Now that's Devotion: Mia
by iRathiest
Summary: After being freed by Greil, Mia serves his mercenaries under Ike's direct command. Believing the war with Daein will be over soon, she thinks peace is just around the corner: the exact opposite of reality. IkexMia, cameos, OCs, and more. Detail inside.
1. Prologue

Okay, this will be my first fan fiction EVER, so I welcome all criticism. However, if you don't like the pairing, I won't care. I'm trying to be as canon as possible here, but the main pairing will be IkexMia. No flames about the pairing, please. There might be other pairings in it as the story goes on, but I haven't decided yet, so put any other pairings you'd like in your reviews. The story will proceed as the game does (following actions I took), but with only important game script in here (such as character development, conversations before a battle, info conversations, supports…), but with my own little 'subchapter' inserts and cameo appearances. I'll take requests for non-Ike or Mia pairings, as well as cameo appearance requests…though they won't come out 'till later. A PM will tell you if your pairing/cameo character has been confirmed…though I warn you, the cameo characters will be severely limited, as I have my own ideas.

So, before the actual fic, this is going to start out before Chapter 7: Shades of Evil and happens at around the same time as Chapter 6: A Brief Diversion. Longer chapters will follow, most notably chapter 3 (Ch. 2 & 3 are finished, but still need a bit of editing).

Big thanks (and cookies) to **Frog-Lizard**. You girls (assuming Hyphen is a girl as well…sorry if that's wrong) are awesome XD.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything (T_T)…besides maybe most of Mia's past, as that's all made up (except the rival thing).

Very small updates as of 12:18 PM JST, 2/11/09.

* * *

'Now that's Devotion'

Prologue

Mia was screwed. Royally screwed. Not long after she had been contracted to the Crimean Army, the unit she had been assigned to (some backwater group on the Crimea-Gallian border) was ambushed by Daein scouts. Before they knew it, a whole blasted regiment came pouring down on them. Not a pretty sight. Outnumbered 5 to 1, the Crimeans fell quickly. The Daeins slew everyone, from the soldiers resisting to the innocent family that had seen the battle…if you could call it one. However, most if not all the mercenaries were spared, and were given a chance to serve under Daein's flag. Most accepted, but the few who refused were being carted off to prison, Mia included. With her hands tied behind her back, she could do nothing but silently curse the men who had ruthlessly killed and burned their way into her home country. She knew she had no way of escaping, she knew she would probably be forced to fight her own country or killed, but the one thing she really didn't know was why this group of Daein soldiers was leading her through Gallia. What she had heard from loose mouths was that they were pursuing a group of Crimean mercenaries, but the reason why was lost to the soldiers. The only thing going through her head after hearing that was hoping that this particular group would run into the Crimeans; she would have a chance to escape and maybe to assist the Crimeans. That is, until a glint of metal caught her eye in a nearby group of bushes…

* * *

50 meters away, three pairs of eyes watched the procession of soldiers.

"Boss, you sure about this? I mean, it's 20-odd against us three…"

"Gatrie, the boss alone can take more than a hundred of these guys. Maybe two hundred. Regiments."

"I know! I'm more worried if we can keep up with him. You've got it easy, Shinon…this armor is heeeavy!"

"Stop whining you-"

"Shinon. Gatrie. Isn't that girl's hands tied up?"

"Ooh…nice legs…"

"Shut up Gatrie. I swear, if I put a skirt on Rolf…"

"Both of you shut up. We're going in. Shinon, cover us from the rear. Free the girl first."

"Roger."

"Hey! Boss! Wait! HEY!! Oh goddess…*gulp*…here we go…"

* * *

"…What is that..?" Mia wondered aloud, still peering into the shrubbery.

"Hey!! What are you looking at?" _Oh, snap! Did I say that out loud??_

Mia tried to look away as fast as she could, but the soldier guarding her was already walking towards the bushes.

"You, mercenary! What were you looking at?!" The soldier yelled over his shoulder, glaring at Mia with a look that could kill.

If the glint she had seen was one of the mercenaries on the run, she didn't want to give them away. Biting her lip, Mia started running ideas through her head. As soon as they appeared they would be shot and cut down – nothing would work.

"Lieutenant! Permission to sweep the area."

"Granted. "

'Crap!' thought Mia, panicking. 'This isn't good…they'll have a whole regiment on them. Nobody could-'

Without warning, a large man with a huge ornate axe and an orange cape charged out into the clearing. Right behind him was another man in blue armor, probably an armor knight by how much protection he had, with a long Steel Lance. The axe-man immediately chopped the unlucky man probing through the bush in half, and ran straight at the remaining 19 or so Daein soldiers unfazed, hesitantly followed by the blue-armored one that kept screaming "Wait! Wait!".

"It's the mercenaries! Form up! Surround them!" yelled the soldier who appeared to be the leader.

"Wait! You can't possibly take them on! It's suicide!!" Mia yelled to the two men. Were they crazy? Suddenly she felt a pair of hands roughly grab her from behind.

"Grab the prisoners! Use them as shields!!" Recognizing the voice as the leader of the Daein troops, she shook him off, backflipped over him, landed, and performed a backwards somersault kick. Hearing her foot connect, the myrmidon rolled away and kicked another soldier where it hurt. Twisting around to face the mercenaries currently engaging the regiment, she hollered, "HEY!! Listen to me, you dumb..."

"Nothing's suicide to that man, girly. Now stop jerking around, unless you want to lose a finger or two."

Surprised, Mia whipped around to find a tall red-haired man holding a hunting knife.

"Who are you? Another Daien dog?!" She snapped.

"Do I look like one? It doesn't matter. Now, do you want to be freed or not? Your call, girly." _Arrogant…_

"…cut the rope already."

With her hands free, Mia turned around to see how the fight was going. She had expected the two men she deemed crazy to be lying on the ground in a bloody mess by now, but it was the complete opposite. The apparent mercenaries were demons! Whatever they were, they were inhumanly strong. In a matter of seconds, the whole group of Daeins had almost been completely decimated. A pile of 4 or so dead men lay near the blue-armored man and the axe-man had maybe 15 kills to himself. They now were looking around for more enemies in the vicinity. Mia could only stare in wonder. Pity neither of them wore white or used a sword…

…but when the axe-man started stretching his right arm, there was something odd about it…

"Boss! Trouble! Survivor over there, he's got a bugle!"

"Shinon!"

The red-head man (apparently called Shinon) pulled a bow from its latch on his back, and fired an arrow all in the blink of an eye, but it was too late. The retreating man blasted the horn right before the arrow ended his life.

"Damn!" the axe-man swore and spat at the ground. "Reinforcements will be here soon." He turned and faced Mia. "You. Take this dead guy's weapons and head south. You don't look like a Daein to me. Find a boy, about your age. He's a blue-haired squirt swinging a sword. Tell him Greil sent you. Follow that path," he pointed to a path leading to a bridge crossing a river. "Now go!"

"W-well, what about you?" Mia stammered. "You can't-"

"Last time you said that the fight was over less than a second later, girly. Now get going. Nothing less than the Great Flood can take that man down. You heard him, shoo! Find the little squirt!" Shinon barked.

Mia turned and ran the opposite direction the three men faced. After a few meters, she stopped, turned around and looked at the trio once more. Convincing herself that they would be fine, she shrugged and ran off to find this 'blue-haired sword-swinging squirt'.


	2. Chapter 1: Boss

Sorry for the late update, I played through a good portion of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn to get some more information on enemy and allied troop deployment and environment. Also, I'm gonna have to perform an oboe solo soon AND a piano performance/s (I'm playing _Tifa's Theme_ from FFVII, FYI) so I was kinda busy. And my Microsoft Word 2007 trial edition ran out…so I have to update this at school. Oh, and I'll leave it to you to wonder why I changed the title slightly. Whoever guesses right will get a teeny spoiler for my plans for this fic =P.

This chapter will includes the game script before Chapter 7: Shades of Evil, include some stuff I put it, switch to Mia's POV after the battle initiates, and then flip back and forth between her and Ike's POV, so sorry if the beginning is really confuzzling. Also, I'm assuming Fort Meritenne, being a fort, will have at least 3 stories, along with a defensive wall, and I know Mia doesn't arrive hurt, but it's just for the heck of putting something IkexMia in; it's also replacing her randomly being critical-ed by the soldier in the top-left of the map in Hard mode and barely surviving during my first play-through of HM…

…and I don't even think that's possible! That's why I replaced the disk.

Huge thanks to **Solstone **and **Phish** for the great reviews! All of the reviews were nice, but these stood out (literally, just check out the review page...). Freebies to **Frog-Lizard** again, for being the one and only beta-reader to me and for being really nice XD and for catching a lot of errors in this chapter.

Minor changes as of 12:30 PM JST, 2/11/09

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Chapter 1

'Boss'

Ike's POV

"It seems as though this place has been abandoned for a long time." Soren said, always the one to state the obvious. As if the brick that had fallen off the ceiling and hit Boyd on the head hadn't been a clear enough sign that the place was going to fall apart soon. Not that Ike complained about that.

"There's no one here... Hm. I could've sworn I saw a silhouette, but...I guess it was a trick of the light." replied a dismounted Titania. She got up on her horse around and prepared to leave.

Ike stopped her. "Let's take a quick look around. If we don't find anything here, we'll head back to Gallia."

Titania paused, decided that it was worth the risk, and then faced Ike. "Very well…"

"Here they are! I've found the Crimean mercenaries! Surround them!" A Daein soldier had stumbled upon the group and ran off to notify his superiors.

"Curses! Daein troops!" Ike swore. He called his allies to a corner in the south-east part of the fort. "Form up, Mercenaries! Oscar, come with me, we're going to take those in the right hall. Titania, Boyd, take point fight your way towards the entrance and hold off any reinforcements. Soren, Rhys, support them." The Greil Mercenaries did as he told them, but Rhys apparently didn't like it.

"I should go with you, just the two of you won't be enough…" Rhys stated. "I'll stay out of the way."

"No, Titania and Boyd will be taking the most hits. They're facing a lot more guys than me and Oscar." Ike shot back. "We've only got 3 guys to worry about here; they're got the full force of the battalion. Hurry up!" As Rhys scurried off, Ike let out a breath. Weren't priests supposed to be smart? Oh well. "Oscar, take the soldier all the way down the hall. I'll pick off the other two."

* * *

---Mia's POV---

Gosh, the fort was huge. And in bad condition, too. It was amazing how the ceiling didn't collapse down on her, even with half the supporting pillars gone; what was even more amazing was that Mia didn't notice until she woke up. What was liable to be seen as a ridiculous amount of luck was that without the sun or moon's light to guide her, she had missed every large hole in the floor at night. Mia had spent the previous evening on the second story of a fort she'd found, after looking around for this 'blue-haired sword swinging squirt'. Afraid that the slightest movement would cause the stones above her to fall and cave her skull in, Mia tip-toed around a large hole directly in front of a flight of stairs, the fruit of her looking for a way down. Suddenly, one of the bricks gave away, and Mia screamed as she dropped down to the first floor.

"Gee, that saved some time getting down." Mia said sarcastically to herself. Brushing rubble off of her, she stood up, rubbing her back where she had landed, and hoped that more bricks wouldn't suddenly collapse from beneath her. However, when she attempted to walk, a sharp pain shot through her leg. Looking down, there was a nasty gash on her left leg. 'Must've happened when I fell. Oh well.' She thought. 'No Daeins around here, so no point in wasting a vulnerary. It'll heal in time…' A ray of sunlight caught her eye, and she began limp-jogging towards it. Wow, she was good at spotting small things. Poking her head around a corner, she saw to her right that a Daein solder with a lance was walking slowly in her direction. She ducked back. "Uh-oh. Daein soldiers here, too. Now, where's that exit…" Now she wished she had drank a bit of her vulnerary earlier, there wasn't enough time to do so as the soldier suddenly swung his lance into battle position. A loud clang could be heard from down the hall, coming from her left. '…Hm? What's that sound? Someone…fighting?' Evidently, the soldier also heard this and came to the same conclusion as Mia. He started jogging down the hall. 'Darn. So much for sneaking out.' She stepped out into the hall, unsheathing her sword as she did. It was risky, especially with her leg, but she would have been found out sooner or later.

As she prepared to engage the soldier, something that sounded like a horse was coming closer. Mia turned around, and her eyes went as wide as dinner plates as she saw that it indeed WAS a horse charging down the hallway. Jumping to the side, she barely avoided being trampled. Looking back, she saw that the Daein soldier was poking away at a green figure atop the horse, who stabbed back with his own lance. Mia lowered her guard and relaxed a bit when she saw the cavalryman attack the Daein, relieved that this newcomer wasn't an enemy.

…though it bugged her that this newfound ally was fighting with his eyes closed while smiling.

Turning her head the other way, she saw two more Daeins; one was a fighter with a throwing axe, and another soldier with a javelin. As the soldier with the javelin prepared to throw the thing at her, Mia found out that her leg was in worse shape than before - the dive to escape death by horse had opened her wound further. NOT good. Time seemed to slow as the javelin left the man's hand, soaring in an arc towards her. Unable to dodge, Mia held her sword up, hoping to deflect the incoming javelin. Closing her eyes, she waited for the javelin to strike home.

It never did. Opening her eyes, she saw a figure standing before her, wielding a sword. To her side lay the javelin, which the swordsman must have deflected. Looking up, her green eyes met a pair of deep blue ones. For some reason, Mia instinctively knew he wasn't an enemy. His eyes seemed to say 'Are you alright?' They were caring eyes; yet steeled battle-hardened ones, but with some hesitation in them. Still slightly stunned from her close encounter with death, she slowly nodded her head and managed to whisper, "…Thanks..?" Satisfied, the owner of the blue eyes charged straight at the fighter, pivoted, and swung at the soldier. Without his weapon, the soldier didn't stand a chance. The fighter, surprised by his partner's death, swung his hand axe wildly at the swordsman. The swordsman stepped back, and let the axe's momentum throw his opponent off balance. As the fighter attempted to bring his weapon back to bear, he was impaled from behind by a sword. Immediate danger gone, the swordsman pushed the body off his blade and grabbed a set of keys from the dead body, then turned around and walked back to Mia. Kneeling down, he offered his hand. "You okay?" Mia just stared dumbly for a second. Shaking her head, she grabbed his hand and pulled herself up. Now that he didn't have his back to her, Mia took a good look at her savior. He seemed to be her elder by a few years, maybe close to 19…20-ish years old. Also, he had blue hair.

Wait.

…Blue hair?

* * *

---Ike's POV---

It gets kind of uncomfortable, when someone stares at you, looking like they've been slapped. Which, of course, never happened (hopefully). Even more so when it's somebody you just met, let alone just saved. If that wasn't enough, make the person a purple-haired girl holding a sword with her face just inches from your own. "Uh…hello?"

"Your name wouldn't happen to be Ike, would it?" the girl quipped. Wow. Blunt.

"It is, but...who are you?" Ike asked, ready to spring in case she was with Daein. It wasn't everyday that some random stranger knows your name, especially if there was a war going on.

"I'm Mia. I'm a mercenary, hired by Crimea to bolster the army's numbers." The answer came quick.

"An army mercenary, huh?" So, she wasn't with Daein. Ike took a moment to relax. "So, uh, what are you doing here?"

Mia hesitated before replying, "I…got careless and was captured. They were about to send me to a prison camp when Greil saved me."

Ike nearly yelled, "You've seen my father? Where?"

Mia took a step back before answering. "Just a little bit north of here. Not too far away, though. And that was yesterday."

"Really? So he's safe..." sighed Ike. At this point Oscar pulled his horse next to Ike, gingerly fingering a cut on his cheek. "Oscar, go reinforce Titania. Oh, and go see Rhys about that cut." Oscar nodded and galloped off.

Apparently tired of answering questions, Mia took the opportunity to take the initiative. "Tell me, who exactly are you guys?"

"We're the Greil Mercenaries." Ike gestured towards the fighting down the hall, where the other group could be seen engaging a pair of armor knights and a fire mage. "As you can see, we're fighting against Daein." He started to walk away, but stopped when he heard Mia start talking again.

"Huh... You're taking on a whole Daein battalion with these numbers? Nice. That settles it then!"

Ike turned around. What was she talking about? "Settles what?"

"This battle. I'm coming in on your side. You don't mind, do you?"

Ike thought about it for a second. "It's fine with me, but... I don't know if you'll get paid just because I let you fight."

"We'll worry about the details later!" Mia piped and smiled at him. She was almost jumping with joy. Wow…what a…peppy attitude… "Great, so that's all taken care of. What next, boss man?" _Boss-man..?_

"Uh…before you start jumping around like that, maybe we should do something about your leg." Ike pointed to the large cut on her leg.

Mia looked confused for a second, and then the pain seemed to catch up to her. "Aah…maybe you're right…I have a vulnerary in my bag. Could you get that for me, boss?" Ike reached into the small sack attached like a belt to her waist and pulled out the small vial. Passing it to Mia, she wiped some of the solution on her cut. The wound started fizzling, and seemed to evaporate. Mia cringed and bit her lip; the healing process wasn't as pain-free as healing through priests or clerics. Also it wasn't as effective; Mia had to take another sip before the wound was fully closed.

Now that she was fine, Ike walked over to a chest in a room along the hallway and used one of the two keys he had found on the fighter to open it. Inside was an Armorslayer. As the name suggests, it was built for cutting through heavy armor, the weapon itself was pretty darn heavy and large. In an effort to lift the thing out of the chest without it getting stuck (it was a bare fit inside the chest), Ike didn't notice Mia sneaking up behind him.

"WHATCHA DOING BOSS??" she screamed into his ear.

Ike nearly jumped a meter into the air, and thus resulted in yanking the Armorslayer out of the chest. "WAAH! What're you doing??"

Mia cocked her head to one side, put a small frown on, and said, "What else? I came over to see what you're doing." She paused to brush back her hair, resulting in a bang sort of floating in the air. "And scaring you worked, the sword's out, isn't it?"

Ike pulled her close before whispering in her ear, "This is a battlefield! The enemy will know where we are, idiot!" As if on cue, two armor knights stepped around the corner, investigating. "Curses. Here they come." Tossing the Armorslayer over to her, Ike charged the closest knight. Ignoring her yelp, he proceeded to jump over the knight's stab, kick the lance into the ground, and swing at his enemy's helmet.

* * *

---Mia's POV---

"Hey! That was dangerous!" Mia was fuming, she could've DIED from that huge sword being thrown at her. She was just trying to get along with him; she didn't know many people remotely close to her age. Even if he was mad, that was going overboard. Wasn't this guy really sensible at first? Expecting a counter-statement, she turned around to face Ike, only to find he wasn't there. Hearing a dull thud, she spun to face the source of the noise, sword at the ready. What she found was a decapitated armor knight on the ground, and saw his companion, another armor, getting his neck slit by Ike. Before she could say anything, a soldier and an archer rounded a corner and attacked. Ike took an arrow in his left shoulder, and was thrown backwards due to the force of the arrow. As the soldier went in for the kill, Mia ran him through his side, pissed that they hurt her nice new boss. He wasn't very good at giving people things, but he was kind, and had also saved her life. The archer changed his focus to Mia, and fired off an arrow. Blocking the arrow, she muttered something under her breath, and she vanished from the archer's view(1). Looking around wildly, he failed to look behind him and see the sword bearing down on his bow arm. Though her aim had been off, the damage to the bow was enough for now. Mia ran to Ike's side, yelling "Boss! Hey, Boss, you alright?"

"Guh…I'm fine." grunted Ike as he pushed himself up with his good arm. His eyes suddenly went wide, and pushed Mia to the ground.

"Ah! W-What are you..." Mia's protests stopped short as Ike coughed up a bit of blood. Then she remembered the archer. "Boss..? Boss!" Another arrow head protruded from right under his left lung, only this one had some purple liquid dripping of the tip…poison?? He…used himself as a shield…

"Titania! Oscar!" Ike yelled before rolling to the side to avoid a third arrow. Two horses charged forward, and the archer was sliced neatly in half by a red-haired woman with a huge Steel Axe. "Rhys! Heal me up! Boyd, take Rhys when he's finished and head to the left! Soren, Mia with me!" He paused to grit his teeth and yank out the two arrows from his body. Poison dripped out of the second wound. A white-robed man ran up to Ike with a staff and proceeded to heal and cure him, muttering something about the poison. "Titania, Oscar, take on any enemy reinforcements!"

"Snake poison…it got to your system pretty fast, but it's not strong enough to do anything worse than what it's doing now…but please, stay still Ike!" Rhys scolded Ike while pinning him with his boot.

'White robes…hmm…maybe he's my arch rival?' Mia thought. 'But later, he's healing Boss.'

"I assume you are Mia." Mia turned and faced the owner of the cold voice. It was a short child, with black hair, that was holding a green tome. A wind mage.

"Yes…you must be Soren? Nice to meet you!" Mia said, hoping to cheer up this rather…depressing looking kid.

"…tch…Just don't get in our way." And with that, the emo (as Mia now dubbed him) walked off towards the two mercenaries on horseback.

"Thanks, Rhys. Go with Boyd now. Greil Mercenaries, you know what to do, move out!!" With that, Ike got up, grabbed his sword (well, swords), and sprinted down the hall with the mercenaries in tow. Mia's mind took a mental photograph of the mercenaries with their backs facing her arrayed out – Ike in the front with Soren at his right. On the left there was Boyd and Rhys, on the right, Titania and Oscar.

'Ike, huh…' Mia smiled. 'What a guy…'

"Mia! Hurry up!" Ike hollered over his shoulder.

"Gotcha, Boss!" Mia yelled back, before running to catch up to him.

* * *

---An hour and 30 minutes later---

The Greil Mercenaries were tired, but euphoric. With the arrival of Daein reinforcements by the regiment, and the arrival of one of Daein's Four Riders, General Petrine, the mercenary company seemed doomed. If it weren't for the entrance of the Gallian laguz and Greil, Gatrie (the blue armored one from before, as Mia learned), and Shinon, they'd all be roasted and stuck on spears like _yakitori_. Mia shuddered. That wasn't a pleasant thought. After talking to Greil, she would be fighting with the troop for now, as Greil had told her she had a debt to repay. Mia didn't mind, as she liked this little rag-tag group, but she had one condition – to be able to call him (Greil) by his name and call Ike 'Boss'. When asked why, she said it was simply because he had recruited her. Greil said he didn't care, the pup would need to get used to the title sooner or later. Now they were all eating together at Fort Gebal, laughing and having a merry time.

"Hey, Boss!" Mia called out to Ike, who didn't respond. "Boss…Boss!"

"Boss. Newbie's calling for ya." Shinon told Greil.

"Shinon…no, everyone, just for clarification, this is Mia. She'll be working with us for a while. Mia's asked if she could just call me Greil and call Ike her 'Boss' instead. I allowed her, so she's talking to you, Ike." Greil corrected.

"…But, _you're _the Boss, father. It won't be my time for a while." Ike retorted. He wasn't exactly comfortable with someone calling him Boss when he wasn't.

Greil thought about it for a bit. "Too late for that, pup. How about this…you're _her _boss, but I'm yours. That easier on you?"

"That…would work…but-" Ike thought out loud.

"It's late." Greil interrupted. "Let's all get some sleep. It's been a hard day, but great work everyone." He left the room without another word.

As the rest of the company filed out of the room, wanting to get a good night's sleep after being chased across the border, Ike motioned for Mia to stay and talk.

Mia took the chance to grab onto Ike before the latter had a change to open his mouth. "Hey, Boss, you have a really unique sword-fighting style. Who taught you that, huh?"

"Well…uh, father did." Ike responded while trying to pry Mia's arms off of him. "Can you let go, Mia." It was an order, not a question. She let go. "Why do you ask?"

"Wanna spar sometime?" Mia asked with a smile. Ike raised an eyebrow. "No, no, not now, we're all tired. Tomorrow?" She added.

"Sure thing, but I won't go easy on you." He had seen her in action, she was pretty good. He would get something out of the spar. "By the way, why do you seem so bent on calling me Boss?"

"Hmm…habit," Mia smiled at Ike. "Is there a problem?"

"No. Good night, then." Ike replied, and headed to his appointed room.

"Aww…little Ikey-poo, not going to sleep with your new girlfwend?" Boyd had been eavesdropping on the conversation, and was now visibly trying to hold in his laughter, and epically failing. His mischief was rewarded with a confused Mia, and an Ike picking up a loose tile from the floor and chucking it into Boyd's face before leaving his unconscious body in the doorway.

* * *

Yep, so that's it. It doesn't feel…good enough to me, though. After posting Chapter 3 (which should be up soon), I'll go back and edit the chapters with your reviews. Oh, and MORE suggestions for pairings and/or cameo appearances, please! So far I've got a GeoffreyxElincia and KeiranxMarcia, but that's it. Oh, and WRITE MORE IKEXMIA FICTIONS IF YOU LIKE THIS ONE. I'm tired of being the only one doing it, though a lot of my reviewers say they like it. If you DO like it, write it!! Or give me your ideas; I'll try to put some one-shots between this story arc and the next (which I mostly have planned already).

1) The Vantage skill. I know it doesn't have anything to do with evasion or speed boosting or whatever, but it gives her an ad**vantage**, so to sspeak.


	3. Chapter 2: Family

Okay, reviews are nice, but sometimes they get a bit annoying. You anonymous reviewers, please leave some way to contact you (or better yet, make an account!). You don't know how frustrating it is when you want to explain a 'problem' that you've mentioned in your review that seems like an error that actually is a vital detail that will be explained later. Or better yet, NOW, if you would just please leave a way to send you a message. So my conclusion is this: either leave a way for me to get to you (preferably by creating an account) OR have your questions answered far later in the story. Your choice.

For now go to my profile to check out my replies.

This chapter's takes place entirely BEFORE Chapter 8: Despair and Hope, starting when Ike and Mist are at Greil's grave. It starts off in Mia's POV. Also, if Mia seems OOC in this chapter, it's because of Greil's death; the family thing I put in so that Mia actually has some background to her (I'm pretty much making her history up). I was going to put Despair and Hope in, but decided that it would make too much of a chapter length difference…which there already is.

Jusy an update, changing some things here and there, following things said by reviews. This ay be confusing - I believe I said earlier (whether thi was posted in the A/N or to somebody by PM) that I would go back an revise after 3 chapters. Well, it's 3 chapters. The 4th is in progress and hopefully will be up next week, seeing as this week is a very busy one. Thanks to **Aquatic-Idealist** for pointing out Mia and Ike's ages (about). That's been changed.

* * *

Chapter 2

'Family'

"...Father. This isn't a dream, is it? This... This is all real. Mist. The sun's going down, and it's getting cold. Come on. Let's go." Ike whispered. Already sunset…no, it was late. It wasn't the only thing late – Ike, Titania, Boyd, Oscar, Soren…the whole mercenary company felt like the day was just too long. That included Mia, usually the Genki-girl(1). Though she hadn't known Greil for long, she still felt a pang of loss when he died. He was a great man of obscene strength and valor, and now he had fallen to some unknown assailant. Her first night with the mercenaries was one filled with laughter and humor, but today the air was filled with sadness. Mia had tailed Ike and Mist to the grave of their father and sat down behind a tree to listen in on her conversation with Ike. She knew it wasn't polite - hell, it wasn't even _right _for her to do this…but something urged her on.

"..." Mist just sat on the ground, watching the sun set behind Urvan, her father's axe.

"Mist?" Ike asked softly.

"Oh... Oh, Ike...sniff..." Mist sobbed back.

"Mist..."

"...W-why... Why?" Mist's attempt at normal speech failed, her sobs making her voice crack.

"I was at his side, but... I couldn't save him. I'm sorry." Ike bowed his head in shame. From where Mia was watching, she could see Ike bite his lip so hard that it started to bleed. Putting her hand to her mouth, Mia managed to squelch a small gasp.

"...Sniff..." (SFX, people don't say 'sniff') Mist didn't seem to notice, she was still staring off into the sunset.

"It's... It's so unreal..." Ike hadn't moved from his position either, he was just staring at the ground. Just…staring…

"Dad's gone... He's gone, Ike. Sniff...And...I...don't...I don't know what to do..."

Ike moved over to Mist's side and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm here."

"Bro-Brother..." Mist looked up at Ike. Mia could now see the glistening streaks of tears on her face.

"I'll lead the company... In Father's stead... And I'll protect you all. You, the princess...everyone. I'll protect you. You'll see." Ike said with determination and conviction.

"No... Brother... Ike... No..."

"Mist?"

Mist buried her face in her hands before choking out, "I won't allow it... I can't lose you. Don't you see? If you go, then I'll be all alone... I won't allow it."

Kneeling next to Mist, Ike looked her in the face. "I'm not going anywhere. I promise you, Mist…"

At this point Mia quietly got up and left. It must feel nice, having a family that you could count on. She felt sad for the two siblings, seeing how they felt, but at the same time she was happy. Happy that Ike had the will to move on and bring the company out of this mess. Making sure that no one would be able to spot her, Mia took a detour back to the fort.

* * *

---5 minutes later---

'Gosh…maybe I should've stayed on the path…' Mia thought as she looked around. Everything looked the same…just trees, trees, and more trees. Mia swore loudly, kicked a nearby tree stump and immediately regretted it. An arrow whizzed through the air and cut off a bit of her hair. Diving into some nearby bushes and drawing her sword, she looked around for the source of the arrow. She didn't have to wait long, as someone crept up behind her and started pulling on her hair. "Ah…ouch! What do you think you're doing??" Mia blindly sliced at the person behind her and managed to knick his or her arm. Spinning around she prepared to attack until she saw who it was. "…what're you doing here, Shinon?"

The red head applied a vulnerary to the cut Mia had just given him calmly and looked right into her eyes. "I'm not gonna waste time. Come with me and Gatrie." As if on cue, Gatrie stepped out from behind a large tree, armored and armed. "We're leaving the mercenaries."

Mia's jaw dropped slightly. "W-Wait, you're…deserting? Why?"

Shinon grit his teeth, and then replied, "Yep. Not gonna hang around to get killed with that runt in charge…" He picked up a stone and chucked it hard at a bird flying by. The stone missed, infuriating Shinon further. "Knowing him, he'll probably send me to the front lines to get killed, being the crap that he is. Lower than a freaking sub-human; can't see him being Greil's son. Since you don't have a debt to owe anymore, come with me and Gatrie. We'll find employment somewhere else, make a name for ourselves, and show that piece of-"

"If that's all you're gonna say, them I'm leaving," Mia interrupted. She sheathed her sword and walked away. "Before you say anything more, I'm not going with you. Period. And you're wrong. I DO owe something to the company, just not Greil. I owe MY boss my life, and I'm not gonna leave this company until I repay that debt." With that Mia disappeared into the dense forest.

Behind her, Shinon shouted, attempting to shake her resolve. "Not my fault if you die 'cuz of that brat. One day you'll come crawling back to me, girly, and you'll be begging me to let you go with me!"

Mia picked up a large branch that had fallen off a tree and threw it in the general direction of Shinon's voice. A dull thud and a cry of pain rang through the forest, indicating that Mia's stick had found its target. "The day pigs fly, coward!!" Mia hollered back. Feeling strangely good, Mia jogged through the forest aimlessly until she bumped into Oscar and Boyd (literally). When asked if she had seen Shinon or Gatrie, she merely told them Shinon probably had a bruise growing by now. That seemed to satisfy the brothers, and they went back to the fort together.

* * *

---Back at Gebal Fort---

"They left? Both of them? Why did they-- Oh, I see. They left because of me, didn't they?" Ike had just received the information about Shinon and Gatrie leaving the company. He seemed…well, perfectly fine…to most of the remaining company. Mist probably would've noticed his anxiety as well. Mia noticed a slight clenching of his fist. The company went on to discuss the loss of some good manpower; it quickly changed when Ike deuced it was because of his inexperience that they left. He announced that he would assume command of the mercenaries. But would he be mentally up to it?

"…if everyone will accept me, that's what I'd like to do." Ike finished, snapping Mia out of her own world of thought.

"Of course!" Titania immediately replied with a smile.

"I'd already made up my mind. That's what I was going to do all along." Oscar put his two cents in.

"What, so now you want me to start calling you Boss? Is that it? Well, I can do that. Boss it is!" Boyd said with a mischievous grin. Mia scowled, she knew it would happen but she didn't want anyone else calling Ike boss…it would be too confusing.

"I'm in too," Rhys called out as he jogged through a door. "Mist's asleep. I know I missed most of the conversation, but I have a good idea of what you've been discussing. Commander Ike... Yes, it does have a nice ring to it."

Ike turned to Soren and stared at him for a bit before asking him. "What about you, Soren?"

Soren mused over the question before replying. "...Ike. I'm not sure what help I could be to you. What place is there for me in a mercenary company, anyway?"

'Wow…depressed much?' Mia mentally decided. 'I'll have to cheer him up later somehow…'

"You are so weird..."

"Great way to start a sentence, Boss." Mia suddenly chimed in. The whole company burst out in hysterics (except Soren, of course, who barely broke a grin), and Ike simply went a little red before smiling at Mia. She had effectively gotten rid of the tension in the room.

"I've always depended on you, haven't I?" Ike continued. "I need your tactical knowledge. I need your objectivity. You're not going to leave me, are you, Soren?"

"Don't worry. I'll be here, watching over you." So that was everybody…Ike would now be Commander Ike from now on. Mia started towards the door.

"Mia? And you?" Mia froze. She wasn't even officially part of the company! Well…she was under their employment, but… "Are you alright? Will you…actually, never mind." At this point Mia turned around, confused as hell, and found her Boss grinning at her. "I already know the answer. Just don't tackle me so hard," This brought a sly grin to Boyd's face, but he was knocked out by another brick. Ike coughed to divert the attention from Boyd's prone body on the floor to himself, and addressed the whole group. "Thank you. I know I'm not as experienced as most of you. I'm going to…" That was as much as Mia heard; she was slightly stunned from the turn of events. Ike had acknowledged her as an honorary member of the Greil Mercenaries, and had made an inside joke with her. This was the first time any one of her employers had been so…kind to her before. Not even her parents, whom she couldn't remember, had been as kind as Ike. And not just him, the whole company was welcoming. They were like a…family.

"Mia…Mia...MIA! HEY!" a voice yelled into her ear, making the poor girl jump a whole meter into the air and slamming her head into a tree branch. "Oh…sorry, didn't mean to yell so loud. Are you alright?" After lying on the ground a minute, Mia turned her head towards the voice.

"Oh…Titania…you need something, Deputy Commander?" Mia piped, forcing a smile onto her face (it's hard to when there's a bump the size of Mist's head growing on your head).

"Hmm…not really. I saw you walking out of the room looking kind of dizzy…I thought maybe you were sick." Titania replied. Wait…she had walked out?

'Oh my god…how did I NOT notice that? Me, the lady of blades?? Noo! There goes my reputation!'

"Ah…I…don't feel so well, Deputy Commander…I'll go back and rest…" Mia blurted out the first excuse that came to mind. With that she scurried off in a random direction…

…and managed to bump her head into the same tree whose branch had given her the nasty bump on her head.

Titania tried very hard to contain her laughter, but failed. Only after she received a tell-this-to-anyone-and-I-will-KILL-you look did she pull herself together. "S-so…ha…are y-you sure you don't need a hand? No…as Deputy Commander and your superior, I order you to tell me what's on your mind."

"Eh...well…umm…" Mia stammered while trying to find a suitable answer. She couldn't just go and blab that she had been thinking about Boss…people would think things! Especially Boyd! There was no way in hell she'd let him get away with another snide comment, though Ike had that covered pretty well. "…I-I was thinking about the company's a lot like a…family…"

"A lot like a family? Just a lot?" Titania scoffed. Mia took a step back. Had she said something that struck a sore spot? "We ARE a family, Mia! We might not be related by blood, but we are family. Ever since Ike included you in that speech, you've been part of the Greil Mercenaries little family. Yes, the family once included Gatrie and Shinon," At this the Deputy Commander scowled and spat into the dirt. "But they've left us. They chose to defy Commander Greil's last wishes, and are no longer part of the family in my mind. Now I ask…will you leave us, too?"

'Ehh?! W-where did that come from?! Does she not trust me?!' Mia groaned inwardly, at the same time managing to remain both mildly pissed and shocked at the question.

"Maybe, but not until I beat Boss in a spar. Anyways, I owe him my life. I'd follow him even if I did beat him!" Mia shot out. "…if I DO beat him…he seems pretty strong…" she added quietly.

Titania bent over and looked Mia right in the eyes. Mia looked straight back, and Titania could see the truth and stubbornness that lay inside her. Straightening up, she stretched and yawned. "Alright, I can see that you're not lying. Welcome, Mia." She walked over to the other side of the tree. "…though I did expect you to have noticed this." With that she picked up her axe that was embedded in the trunk, on the edge of Mia's peripheral vision.

"Whaaaaaaaat?!" Mia practically screamed. She stood there with her mouth agape for a short while, and then hung her head in disappointment.

"Heh…it'll take a while for you to get used to that. Don't worry. Ike had a much worse reaction than that." Titania chuckled at the memory. "Muuuch worse…Mist was so mad…"

"Oh…okay…even Boss had a reaction like that? I think I can handle the loss. If even he did…" Mia murmured to no one in particular.

"Ha ha…that's the spirit, girl." Titania walked over and ruffled Mia's hair, receiving a growl in reply. Backing off, she continued. "At least promise me this, since you seem pretty attached to Ike. Whether it's because of your life debt or whatever, I ask you to stick with Ike and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid or mess up." Before Mia could object, Titania silenced her with a finger to her lips. "I know, that's sort of Soren's job, but what I mean is emotionally. He's been molded into quite the commander by his father, but with this war going on, even if we win, Ike looses the blissful teenage years that he could have spent quite happily."

"Umm…before you go any further, how old is the Boss?" Mia wondered aloud. "He seems close to 20…but teenage years..?"

"Oh…he he…ha…HA HA HA!!" Titania started bawling in laughter, clutching her stomach. Mia just stared at the mad red-haired woman that was supposed to be her superior. "W-Well, how should…he he…h-how should I p-put this…how old are YOU?"

"Ehh??" Mia seemed to be yelling a lot today. "M-My age?"

"It's girl-to-girl. No secrets guaranteed, though...oh, and I should warn you, he's a lot younger than you think," Titania said, pushing her hair behind her ear. "Ike would probably like to know there's someone else around here besides those two polar extremes around here: Boyd and Soren," She added.

"Well…I'm…ALMOST 16 years. My birthday is in about 2 months. July 8th." Mia wasn't sure what Titania would do besides tell Ike…she already knew she'd tell him anyways. Commanders should know at least how old his or her subordinates were.

Titania stopped grinning and donned a look of realization. "Oh! That's not too bad. Ike's less than a year older than you. 7 months, to be exact."

Mia's eyes widened as she took this in. But he looked so…mature! "Are you playing around with me? He can't be just 16! He looks…looks…more…mature? I mean, he just doesn't look 16!!"

"Yeah, he's 16, alright. The mercenaries can tell…but maybe it's because we already knew him for so long." Titania tried to reassure Mia, seeing as how the young girl was gaping at her like a fish. "If you really don't believe me, you can ask Ike directly. He's right over there." Nodding her head in his direction, she jogged over to the newly instated commander. She stopped halfway and called over her shoulder, "Just don't tell him that you thought he was 20!" With that she caught up to Ike and started talking with him.

"Wait! Nonono, please..! Ugh…" This was really turning out to be a bad day for the purple-haired myrmidon. She immediately ran several potential excuses through her head. She did NOT want to be caught in an awkward situation by the group again…aha! That was perfe-

"Hello, Mia. You wanted to talk to me?" Ike said while waving his hand in front of her face.

"YAAAH!! WHAT IS IT WITH YOU MERCENARIES AND SCARING PEOPLE?!" Mia, for the umpteenth time that day, jumped over a meter into the air. Ike cocked his head to one side after this explosion.

"Wait, weren't you a mercenary as well?" Mia tried to retaliate, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. Sighing, she dropped her head and mumbled an apology. Before she could walk away, however, Ike grabbed her by the arm.

"Yes, Boss?" Mia turned around...

…and found a blade at her neck.

"Earlier, you said you wanted to spar. I'm guessing you were trying to find me for that reason. Am I right?" Mia grinned, unsheathing her own sword. She had been given a way out of the situation, and she jumped at it…but it wasn't like that she didn't agree with it.

"Yes sir! You had better not go easy on me!"

Ike relaxed into his strange battle stance, with his sword hanging loosely in his right hand, which in turn was raised at eye level. "I expect no less from the newest member of the Greil Mercenaries. Whenever you're ready."

"First to land a hit?"

"Fine by me."

After a brief stare-down, Mia made her move. Dashing forward, she started the match with a lunging stab, followed by a diagonal slash to the torso. As Ike moved to avoid, she spun and tried to deliver a disarming backhand cut. To her dismay, Ike parried the attack, pulling her towards him and throwing her completely off balance(2). The blue-haired swordsman proceeded to trip the aggressor and simply stood to the side, watching the figure fall down. Mia managed to use her hands to push off the ground and recover, but had not regained her balance yet when Ike rushed her. Cursing, she backwards to gain some distance between each other.

'Dang!' she thought, 'He's better at dueling than I thought! Can't hold back …'

The myrmidon danced around her Boss' next stab and went for his ankles. Ike barely jumped in time and rolled to the side. The two combatants sidled each other, looking for a weakness, when one of them found one. Once again, Ike rushed forward, lunging at his opponent. Rolling back, Mia avoided his attack and swung back, only to cut air. Her eyes caught a glint of metal in the sky, and then widened as she saw Ike somersaulting through the air. At the last second, he swung a deadly vertical slash at his sparring partner(3). Mia blocked the attack, but the blow jarred her arm to the point where it hurt to even move it. Cursing, she tossed her sword to her left hand and adopted a one-handed style, and locked blades with Ike. In terms of speed, they were about equal(4), but when it came to sheer strength, Ike outclassed her, not to mention her sword arm was useless at this point. Soon, Mia was on her knees, struggling to keep Ike's Steel Sword from cutting into her. Suddenly, she stopped trying altogether and rolled between Ike's legs and attempted to cut open his knees. She came close, cutting a hole in his pants, but still it was only close. Not enough, and the strain from the previous strength contest was getting to her. Ike noticed Mia's near-panting and sweat and deuced that she was tired. He was right, too. Pulling back his sword, he prepared to end the duel. As Mia raised her own sword to parry, a ray of hope shined as her Boss' inexperience caused him the sword to slip out of his hand. Jumping at the opportunity, the myrmidon sprinted towards the now unarmed Ike. However, in her haste, she failed to even briefly consider Ike's hand-to-hand combat ability. As she pulled her sword behind her head to swing a heavy blow aimed at her opponent's chest, Ike took a gamble and grabbed Mia's hand with his own left hand and the hilt of the sword with his right, and picked Mia off the ground. Completely taken my surprise, Mia struggled to free herself from dangling around, flailing her legs randomly. All of a sudden, Ike slammed Mia into a tree and proceeded to pull Mia towards him. As he did, he kicked her hard in the stomach. Mia flew into the same tree again, coughed up a bunch of saliva, and lay there unconscious.

"Oh, crap. Mist is going to be mad if she finds out about this…" Ike mused as he slung Mia's inert body over his right shoulder and started walking back to the fort, picking up his dropped sword along the way. "Well, she DID tell me not to hold back. Maybe I shouldn't have complied with that one part…" As he shifted his arm to a more comfortable position, Mia groaned and shifted, yet remained dead to the world. A noticeable bump on her head was starting to show. "Okay, I definitely shouldn't have done that." As a breeze blew over the two, Mia's headband came loose and floated away, only to come to rest in Ike's hand as he reached to grab it.

* * *

---Later than evening---

Mia woke up to the sound of someone snoring. She briefly wondered where she was. 'In a bed…well, more of an old bed with a nice blanket…back at the Fort? Wait…outside the fort…OH CRAP!' The memories of her duel with Ike hit her all at once, and she visibly recoiled from the force of the memories. 'I…lost? Ahh blast!!' she slammed her hand on the bed. 'I thought I could take him! I…I thought I could…'

"Damn it! Damn, damn, damn, damn!!" Mia yelled while pounding the wall with her fists. The first time she had ever lost a duel…was this how defeat felt like? Grabbing her head, she found the large bruise on the back of her head. Gingerly, she touched it and immediately backed down – it HURT. Calming down, she brushed her hair out of her eyes and for the first time saw a note on her bed. Upon unfolding it, Mia began to read.

_Hey, Mia! Thought you might be hungry after your duel with Ike. There's some bread in the basket next to your bed. Oh, and don't worry about Ike, I think I've scolded him enough for not going easy on you. I know you told him not to, but the way he carried you back to the fort made it seem a heckuva lot worse, __not to mention the bruises he gave you.__ Don't know when you're gonna wake up, but Rhys said you were fine._

_Oh, and Ike told me to tell you that you put up quite the fight, that you're a great fighter and had him on his toes the whole time, and that he'll look forward to your next challenge. I don't understand, really, but oh well._

_See ya around!_

_-Mist_

_P.S: I washed your headband, by the way. It's on the table._

Mia smiled, quietly thanking Mist, and then frowned when she got to the part about Ike having to carry her back. Was it that bad? It had hurt…

…okay, it really hurt…

…fine, it hurt like hell, but it was only a kick. She would be fine if he left her there to wake up. After a quick check of her body, she realized that she was indeed bruised, but not too much. They would disappear fairly soon. The thought of Ike having to carry her back made her cheeks go slightly red, but she brushed it aside. When Mia read the last paragraph, she sighed out of relief. Ike thought she was a great fighter! Personally, she thought she was totally out-classed, but maybe it was just her. Or maybe he said it just to boost her ego a little bit after losing like that, but she didn't really care at that point. "But his dropping his sword was…not expected…te he…" Mia giggled to herself.

Now, if only he wore white…nah, he was her Boss. Maybe if she pressured him, he could teach her some of his swordplay one day. That would be awesome. Their styles were complete opposites – wild and unpredictable, rough, yet ridiculously powerful (even though it was not perfected yet; she could see the hesitation in his steps…not to mention his dropping his sword…ha ha…) opposed to graceful, flowing, and smooth. A mix of the two would be a lethal combination. Actually, if they were _sparring partners_…then they could learn from each other! The idea excited Mia so much that she wondered aloud, "I'm gonna go get him _right _now!" Then she remembered her injuries, and fell back onto the bed, left hand on her gut and right hand on her head. "Actually, scratch that. I'm gonna tell Boss tomorrow…" And with that Mia fell asleep.

* * *

I'm not so good at combat scenes…just starting isn't really an excuse. I'll try to do better next time.

1 – Search up the term 'Genki Girl' on Google. The first one should have the definition (Television Tropes & Idioms, scroll down to Fire Emblem).

2 – Reverse Guard Impact for Mid-Low attacks in Soul Caliber II

3 – Ike's non-kill critical. I'm going along the lines of criticals and abilities being able to be blocked/avoided, to make it seem as realistic as possible.

4 – Like I said, I was going along with things that I did in the game. At this point, both had 15 Spd, while Ike's strength was 5 above Mia's (13 to 8).


	4. Chapter 3: Reasons

All right, after a really, really long time, here's Chapter 3. This chapter contains all of Chapter 8: Despair and Hope and continues to the info conversation between Ike and Mia before Chapter 9: Gallia. Oh, and I know I said that the first cameo appearance would be in Chapter 5 or something, but I decided to put him in here. Have fun guessing who it is XD. First person to guess correctly will get first dibs for a pairing =P.

Thanks to all my reviewers, with the ones getting honors bolded, in no particular order:

Saleh Onasi, Chakram Soldier, Shadow Greymon, **Phish**, FE Frog, Han-ko, The Light Hidden In The Shadow, tiger002, **Solstone**, jojobevco, **Aquatic-Idealist (for reminding me of the pair's ages)**, jordan114725, **Starlll**, darkmiester, and though they aren't reviewers, **Frog-Lizard (AGAIN) **for being the awesome beta-reader they are.

Notice how the bolded people either wrote more than a couple of sentences or asked for a pairing. Or cameo character, even though the one request wouldn't work. The cameos won't have a major role in the story, excluding the ones I'm planning on using…but maybe there'll be exceptions…who knows? XD

Heck, just send your pairing requests anyways, even if you're not first to get it. I'll consider them ALL.

Just a little heads-up, _italics_ will be thoughts as well as emphasis in a sentence. And sound effects. It should be obvious which is which, as an entire sentence will not be italicized unless it's a thought, and same goes for sound effects. CAPITALS are shouting/yelling (if not mentioned, like if I said "Mia shouted..." beforehand, it won't be capitalized). ' ' is whispering, and " " is normal speech. ( ) is for extra details.

* * *

**---Chapter 3---**

Reasons

Mia woke up to the sound of a bird chirping on her window sill. Sitting up and looking out the window, she saw that the sun hadn't risen yet. Stretching, Mia checked her injuries. They were, for the most part, healed. However, her stomach area still hurt like crazy while stretching. _Stupid Ike…_ Mia thought as she slid off her bed_. I'll get back at him one day… _Then she remembered her decision she made the night before. _Oh…never mind, I can't just go around injuring my sparring partner…heh, doesn't mean I can't bug him about it!_ And with exactly that in mind, Mia grabbed her swords, put on her boots, and set off to get some exercise before finding her Boss.

---Outside---

Skipping outside the fort, Mia took a deep breath and sighed. "Ahh, nothing like the fresh morning air!" Taking off at a brisk jog, the young girl headed out of the fort for a short run. As she passed a part of the fort where the wall had collapsed, with the rubble leading up to the second story, she got an excellent idea. Tip-toeing up mound of debris, Mia slinked through the hallways, peeking in through several doors, trying to find something. After 5 minutes of opening random doors, she finally found her target. Ike was sleeping soundly, with his wooden Trainer swords propped up right next to his Regal Sword, handed down to him by his father. However, he didn't seem to use it much; his preferred weapon was the Steel Sword lying horizontally on the ground. Perhaps he thought it too valuable to be used. Carefully, Mia unsheathed the Steel Sword, laid it carefully behind one of the Trainers so that you could only see the hilt, and took the other Trainer and sheathed it into the now vacant scabbard. Ohh, Ike was going to be in for a surprise when woke up! Giggling silently, the mischievous myrmidon soundlessly closed the door, snuck back down the pile of debris, and continued the daily before-dawn jog.

* * *

A few hours later, Mia walked slowly back to the fort. It was slightly past dawn, and the sun was just showing its full self over the horizon. Judging by the position of the sun and the shadows, it was still pretty darn early. Pausing only to lean over and pick a flower, Mia made a beeline straight back to their temporary residence.

As she neared the gates, she heard a cry, followed by a loud "BOYD!!!!" Hearing this, the purple-haired girl burst into hysterics as she saw a very pissed Ike chasing and whacking a terrified & half-dressed Boyd across the fort courtyard. After they rounded a corner, Mia managed to pull herself together and attempted to walk as casually as possible into the breakfast hall. She made significant progress but failed when she found an unconscious Boyd with one of Ike's Trainers laying nearby. Almost if he had intentionally timed it (which he had, with Soren's help), Ike walked in on the girl rolling around on the floor and whacked her on the head with the fallen Trainer.

"Hey!! What was that for, Boss?!" Mia growled as she picked herself off the ground and rubbed the second bump growing on her forehead.

"I knew it was you who switched around the swords." _Ehh?! How did he…_ "I believe you're the only one who wears a white headband around here…" From his left pocket he revealed Mia's headband. "It got caught on the doorframe. Unlucky, I suppose. Want to tell me why you did this?"

"I…uh…um…kinda dropped something outside the gates…yeah…see ya!!" With that Mia sprinted towards the fort gates, only to be caught by the collar by her Boss. With a yelp, her legs flew out from underneath her and she landed flat on her back.

Ike squatted down next to her, grabbed her collar once more, and asked again, "Once again – why'd you pull this prank on me?"

"Eh…well…I was bored..? And I figured you'd blame Boyd…" Mia replied, figuring it was best not to lie. "…by the way, if you knew it was me, why did you chase Boyd literally halfway across Tellius?"

Ike's reply was totally NOT expected by Mia. With a grin, he merely replied, "I was bored." Ignoring the drop of sweat that ran down the side of Mia's face, he went on. "Plus, it's a chance to practice my father's Boyd-bashing skills." _Huh?_

"Um…what's-"Just as Mia started to speak, a raindrop fell in her eye. "WAAH! What in the name of-"

_Whizz. _Thud. Clatter.

Boss and subordinate stared at the arrow in wonder, which laid just at the feet of Soren, who had been eavesdropping on them. The trio looked at one other, then back to the arrow. In unison, they whipped their heads to locate the source of the arrow.

To their surprise (and for Mia, her amusement), a pair of Daein archers stood upon a wall.

"YOU IDIOT!!" The one on the left yelled, wielding a hefty Steel Bow. "I TOLD you not to let go of the string even if they threw a horse at you!!"

"How about a little green-haired boy in a skirt?" Mia teased.

"SHUT UP!!" The pissed off archer yelled back. "This is DAIEN affairs!!"

Mia rolled her eyes and leaned towards Ike, 'You wanna kill them right now, or do you wanna watch?'

Ike whispered out of the corner of his mouth, 'Let's just watch.'

Back to the idiot archers. The one on the left cowered and meekly replied, "Well, sarge, it's my first time using a long bow…and…and…the rain! IT BURNS!!!" He started screaming profanities while rubbing his eye vigorously. Quite accidentally, his right elbow just happened to smack his superior in the face.

"Oof!! Bloody oaf!!" In an effort to stop his fall, the sergeant grabbed onto his partner and managed to pull them both off the wall screaming. The scene came to an end with a loud _THUD_ and an awkward silence. Ike took the liberty of freeing everyone from the awkwardness, quoting, "Well, I suppose we're under attack." He was met with another very awkward silence. "Soren, get everyone together. We meet at the central courtyard(1)." The said person sprinted off.

"…I don't really know if that counted, but let's go, Boss!" Mia hopped up, brushed herself off, and ran straight to the courtyard, dragging a protesting Ike (literally) behind her.

* * *

---Central Courtyard---

"This isn't looking too good. We're totally surrounded." As if anyone couldn't see that! What Soren had just said couldn't be more obvious. To their left were a squad of armor knights and the two archers Ike, Mia, and Soren had seen earlier. Just outside the gates, a platoon of mounted knights were galloping towards the mercenaries. The narrow right passage was littered with soldiers, archers, myrmidons, and Ashera knew what else.

Looking around, Ike could not think of any way to keep everyone alive. "Blast. Soren, what do you think?"

The black-haired mage thought hard for a bit, then grimly said, "The chances of survival are slim. We cannot expect any reinforcements from Gallia until their envoys arrive to pick us up, Gatrie and Shinon have deserted, Commander Greil…Our best bet is to block those narrow entrances to the door to the main building and try to hold out as best as we can."

"I see, then what should we do?"

Soren rolled his eyes and replied, "YOU'RE the commander now, Ike. You make the decisions."

"Crap. I guess…Titania, stop those armored knights from coming in. Soren, you're her artillery, your magic should do a number on them, but watch out for those archers." The two mentioned people nodded and ran off. "Oscar, take point and fend off those mounted knights as best as you can. Boyd, take that stack of throwing axes and support him. Rhys, stay in between the two groups and heal them whenever someone gets hurt. I'll take the left passage. Mia, you're back up."

"I believe taking Mia with you is better!" Soren called over as he jumped out of the way of a fireball. "You will have someone to watch your back AND she will put down that Trainer!" Turning around Ike was confronted with the sight of a very pissed Mia and his Trainer sword just inches from his face.

Before Ike could say anything, Mia threw the wooden sword in his face and stalked off, unsheathing her sword as she walked towards the incoming enemies. Pausing, she turned around shouted, "I hate being back up!" before engaging an armor knight in combat.

Ike laid there for a second, and then got up. "What a strange girl…" he wondered aloud before running to help Mia finish off the knight and impale a soldier.

* * *

---Mia's POV---

After the armor knight was dead and twitching, Mia's adrenaline rush from getting mad at Ike's orders wore off. She barely parried an enemy myrmidons slash and disarmed him before taking off his head. The next few minutes were a blur as she desperately jumped around, trying to avoid the Daien weapons while dispatching as many as she could. Chancing a glance at her Boss, she saw he was doing better, but not by much. He wasn't literally flying all over the place like she was, and he had taken down at least half a dozen men more than her. On the downside, he was badly cut up, and was currently wrenching an Iron Lance from his left forearm. This proved to be a bit too much of a distraction, as Mia's attention was suddenly diverted from the soldier she was avoiding. She saw the lance a little too late.

* * *

With a mighty swing, the Daein sent the girl flying back into Ike, smashing her head against the hard stone floor. As the two tried to disentangle their various limbs and swords, the archers opened fire and nailed both in the shoulder. Mia, due to being a myrmidon and thus not any wearing armor besides her light leather guards, took the damage more badly than Ike, and struggled to get herself off the ground, let alone keep her consciousness from flying off. Ike, on the other hand, still had enough strength in him to roll over, rip the arrow out, and chug down a vulnerary before grabbing Mia and retreating back out of the corridor. After throwing his spare Iron Sword into the face of an incoming fighter, he called Rhys over to patch the barely conscious Mia. "Heal her up. Make sure she doesn't run off until she's fully recovered," With his orders given, Ike ran back into the fray and lopped off the arm of the one who had landed a blow on is subordinate.

As Mia groggily pushed herself off the ground, she felt a pair of friendly hands gently push her back down. Looking up, she saw Rhys trying to multi-task holding her down without touching her wounds while healing her. It looked funny, but it was working. "Sorry, orders from Ike. You can't go back until you're completely healed." With that comment, Mia grew furious. _Why does everyone underestimate me?!_

"Rhys. I. Am. FINE." With that she shoved Rhys out of the way and staggered to her feet. Grabbing her sword, she tried to go after Ike and support him, but her vision went woozy was she collapsed back onto the ground. "…damn…ugh…I am NOT going to lose to him again!" Rhys scurried over to start healing her again, but she kicked his staff away. Bracing herself for another attempt, she succeeded in standing up, but her head injury prevented her from taking a step forward. Groaning, she leaned against the wall and pulled out the last bit of her vulnerary. Taking a small swig and dumping the rest directly onto her head, Mia bit her lip as the wound closed. Now fine for the most part, she stretched and ran around the corner…

…only to run straight into somebody. While Mia remained standing (albeit receiving a large forehead to the nose), the mage was sent flying a few feet. On her guard, Mia prepared to impale the mage when a hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed her sword. Spinning around, she accidentally whipped Ike in the face with her hair. _Woops._

"Don't worry. She's one of us now. This is Ilyana. More details later," Ike said as he rubbed his cheek. "I'm charging the rest of them; there's not that many over here anymore. Watch over her. I think she's sick." He added before Mia could put her two cents in about the situation.

Rolling her eyes, she took a better look at the mage she had just mowed over…and GOSH, she was thin. Did she even eat anything recently?! "…are you sure you can fight? I mean, you're…" Mia stopped herself before she could say something rude. "…thin. Kinda too much so."

"I…I can fight…" Ilyana weakly muttered, before promptly keeling over and clutching her stomach.

"W-Whoa! Hey! Ugh…" This was turning out to be the worst day of her life. First, she got her hair band caught on Ike's door after pulling that prank; then he whacks her over the head with his Trainer, followed by a Daein attack. If that weren't enough, her Boss had to carry her back to safety AGAIN. At this rate he was gonna get more kills than she was! Mia was determined not to let him win at anything anymore.

Oh, and the unconscious girl with the orchid hair. Almost forgot that important little detail. "RHYS!! Hey, Rhys, get your behind over her!" Mia yelled, and Rhys came scurrying over, Heal staff in hand. "Get her to a safe spot, will ya? And YES I'm fine. F. I. N. E. Now, shoo!" _Gawd, that priest can be annoying sometimes_…banishing that thought from her mind, Mia turned back down the alley and arrived in the nick of time to take a couple of Ike's kills. Turning around briefly, she smirked and poked Ike between his eyes. "C'mon Boss. Loosing your touch already?"

* * *

---Ike's POV---

After Mia had returned, taking down the remaining handful of enemies on this side of the fort had been a heckuva lot easier than when she was unconscious. Actually…maybe not, if you take into consideration that said myrmidon kept sticking her tongue out at you whenever she dealt the final blow to someone and not you. Strange, very strange. However, his primary concern was the sheer number of reinforcements the Daeins had. For every soldier they cut down, another would take his place. And this was after Boyd had bashed their leader's head in with a Hammer!

As Ike kicked a soldier down the stairs, he heard heavy footsteps behind him. Way too heavy to be Mia's. Instinctively jumping straight up, he managed to avoid being impaled from behind. Without warning, a lightning bolt fried the poor lancer, quickly followed by his partner. Glancing behind him, he saw Ilyana grasping an Elthunder tome. _Wait. Where's Mia?_ His mental question was immediately answered when said girl went back-to-back with him. Looking around, he noticed for the first time that the trio (Ilyana, Mia, and himself) was surrounded by massive amounts of reinforcements.

An exhausted Mia voiced his concerns, "B…Boss? Just how many _are_ there?" She craned her head back to look him in the eyes, and that cheery glimmer that had been there was all but gone, replaced by desperation and a bitter stubbornness to survive.

"I…don't know." As much as Ike hated to admit it, they were loosing…and he didn't see any Gallians coming to help them. Oscar had taken a spear to the shoulder, Boyd had run fresh out of hand axes and his Steel Axe wasn't in the best condition, Titania's horse was injured, Soren's Elwind tome had been rendered useless by an arrow (forcing him to use his less powerful Wind tome), and Rhys was getting exhausted from the strain of healing so many injuries. Ilyana was the only one who was fighting at full strength, and she was sick! The situation looked bleak. _Damn. No choice but to…_

"Mercenaries!! Retreat into the fort! Hold the door!" Ike charged a couple of injured enemy fighters, cut them down, and fended off the rest until both Mia and Ilyana had gotten past him and to safety before running away himself. Turning the corner, he found Soren hastily getting the mercenaries to form a box around the entrance to the fort. Taking his own position, he issued his own orders. "Titania, Soren, Boyd! Form a human wall with me! Everyone else, rest for a bit inside! Rhys, grab us some more vulnerarys from Aimee and stop using your heal staff, you'll exhaust yourself soon."

Oscar stepped up, clutching his wounded arm. "I'll help defend as well. It's only my left arm, and I am right handed." Ike pondered this for a moment, and then nodded.

"Sure, just be careful about that shoulder. Hurry it up. They'll be here soon." As if it were the will of the goddess, the Daein soldiers appeared en masse right as Ike finished his sentence. As Ike moved towards his post, a shaky hand grabbed his cape.

"Boss…" Looking down, he saw Mia collapsed against the entrance, pointing at her knapsack. Kneeling down, he opened it and found a vulnerary. Assuming she wanted to drink it, Ike handed the bottle over to the injured girl. To his surprise, Mia carefully shook her head, and pressed the medicine back into Ike's hands before shakily handing her Slim Sword over as well. Glancing at the two objects now in his hands, Ike then looked at Mia, silently demanding an explanation. In a sudden burst of strength, Mia pulled Ike's ear towards her, and whispered…

'Kill some of the bastards for me.'

…before her hand went limp, and it was all she could do but stay conscious. Ike, now knowing her enough that she'd never want to loose to him, knew the significance behind those words. Patting Mia on the head, he sheathed his Regal Sword, pulled out the borrowed Slim Sword, and charged into the fray awaiting him.

* * *

Behind him, Mia rolled her head so that she could view the desperate battle between the remaining 5 mercenaries and a whole regiment of Daein troops. Bolstered by desperation and the feral instinct to survive, the minority was putting up a helluva fight, felling 4 Daeins for every injury they took…but it was only a matter of time. Smiling sadly to herself, she sighed painfully and thought about the company. From where she lay, it seemed that her Boss was bathed in a brilliant white light. Whether it was just her or not, she didn't care. _Ike, huh…what a guy...my rival...?...just a few days, and he and Mist are…almost like…family…screw rivalry...if only fate…would allow me…to…survive this…I'd follow him anywhere…e…everywhere…f…for..._ And she passed out.

* * *

---20 Minutes Later---

Ike's POV

Ike grunted as yet another lance pierced his side. Spinning away, he slit the throat of the soldier. Looking around, he saw Titania slumped against the wall, unable to continue fighting. Boyd's axes had all broken, and he was throwing whatever weapons, armor, and objects in general he could find at the incoming Daeins. Rolf had the same idea, and was sitting on the top of the fort, tossing bricks onto the heads of their enemies. Oscar had been forced off his horse, and was getting cornered by two myrmidons and a fighter. Soren was limping around, painfully pushing bodies into heaps to slow the enemy advance.

Chancing a glance back into the fort's entrance, he was relieved that not a single Daein had made it that far. However, the two things that had nabbed his attention was Rhys desperately motioning with his arms and an empty vulnerary bottle – they had run out, and Mia's prone form and the trickle of blood dripping down from the corner of his mouth. Assuming they made it out of this mess alive, he'd have to thank her. Her Slim Sword was light, easy to handle, and very sharp, effectively allowing Ike to accurately hit enemy vital points with minimal effort required. Even so, it was coming close to breaking. _I…guess I'll have to buy her a new one…ugh! _He grunted as an arrow grazed his cheek, and he deflected another with his borrowed sword, watching as Boyd lifted up a dead armor knight's chest plate and chucked it at the archer with a great roar (not literally). _That is, if we survive this hell hole…_(Possible paragraph break) Ike was snapped out of his reverie as he heard a weak "Boss!" and dropped to the ground to avoid decapitation by blade. Bringing his sword up to parry, he tripped over a carcass and would've died if not for Rolf's now deadly aim with dropping heavy objects onto people. With a sickening _thud_, the Daein myrmidon dropped like a rock, no pun intended. Hearing someone call his name, Ike turned and to his chagrin, saw Mist running out to his side, supporting a now conscious Mia with her shoulders. "Mist?! Mia?! What are you two doing?! You're not supposed to be out here!!"

"We don't care, Ike!!" Mist hollered back. Ike was taken aback; this was the first time Mist had been so angry. Suddenly, her face fell. "There's no way we can escape! This is it, isn't it? We're all going to die here, aren't we?"

_What?_ "Don't be an idiot! I'm going to get as many of us out of here alive as I can, starting with you and Rolf. Once you're safe, go straight to the palace and stay with Princess Elincia. Take Rhys, Mia, the merchants, and whoever else is injured…Titania and Soren…with you."

"No! I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here with everyone! I'm staying with you!" Mist was _serious_.

"But…"

"She's not the only one…urgh…" Mia interrupted, trying to stand by herself. Stumbling forward, she almost fell into Ike and gently took her sword back from Ike. Looking up into his eyes, she smirked and said, "I'll be having that back now, Boss."

"You see, Brother? We're _not_ leaving!" Mist cried out, tears welling up in her eyes. "As long as I'm with you, I'm not afraid to die. We'll see Mother and Father. We'll all be together again. So, please... Stop telling me to leave you. I can't. I can't leave any of you again. All right?" Mia nodded her agreement and stood next to Mist. _Why do girls have to be so stubborn…_

"…All right. Don't leave my side, Mist. Mia, help Soren pile those bodies into a wall." Mia immediately turned and hobbled over to Soren. Mist merely hugged Ike's arm, giving him a silent thanks. "Just one thing," Ike added. Mist's ears perked up.

"What?" She asked.

"You're not going to see Mother just yet. I'm not going to let you die. I gave Father my word." With that, he spun, kicked a soldier trying to sneak up on him, and ran him through, putting a period onto his sentence.

* * *

---5 Minutes Later---

Ike and Mia were the last of the mercenaries still standing. Back to back, they stood their ground in front of the entrance to the fort, with Mist standing between them and the door. The duo was completely surrounded on three sides by masses upon masses of Daein reinforcements, and all the other mercenaries were currently inside recuperating. Even Rolf had abandoned his rock throwing to help the injured. To top it off, Ike' left arm was useless at this point, thanks to the two arrows sticking out of it, and Mia, though unscathed, was exhausted to the point of nearly blacking out several times. Unexpectedly, the Daein soldiers backed off, revealing their second-in-command. The large armor knight towered above the two teens, and stared down at them. "So few soldiers, and yet you managed to defeat our general? You have fought well. But it all ends here. Prepare to die!" As he raised his lance, Ike rushed forwards, swinging his Regal Sword in a heavy swing. The knight punched Ike square in the gut before Ike's sword had a chance to touch his armor. Coughing up blood, Ike was sent flying back.

Mia gasped and ran to his side. "Boss! Hey, Boss!!" Ike groaned and slowly rose back to his feet, only to fall back down to his knees. When Mist came over to his side to tend to his wound, Mia gritted her teeth and grabbed the Regal Sword out of Ike's hands. With a great battle cry, she too charged at the armor knight.

"Hmph…Do you whelps ever learn?" The Daein sneered as he thrust his lance at Mia, believing he had killed the girl with the stroke. However, Mia, having anticipated the move, hopped on top of the lance, ran up its length, and flipped onto his shoulders. "What?!" Smirking, Mia swung a heavy blow at his neck.

Nothing happened.

From Ike's point of view, it looked as if Mia had stopped her swing. In reality, she had not the strength to cut all the way down through the armor; the blade had been stopped by the armor just centimeters from the soldier's throat. Gritting her teeth, Mia barely whispered a '…damn…' before being thrown off of the knight's shoulders and landing on her side next to Ike. She turned her head slowly over and faced Ike, and for some odd reason, she was smiling, though her eyes were watery. "It was an honor serving under you, Ike." _Wait…she called me by name?_ "The past few days were the best I've ever had. Mist, Ike. Thank you."

Ike smiled back and ruffled Mia's hair, perhaps for the last time. Over the past few days, she had become something of another little sister to him. "You're welcome." He put his arms around both Mist and Mia, and the trio closed their eyes, waiting for the end.

But Ike had a plan. Once the Daein started his stab…he would get Mia and Mist out of there, alert Titania to use the last-ditch plan they, along with Soren, had formulated. _The timing is everything…timing…_ he thought as he closed his eyes and waited for the pain.

* * *

_Mission clock: 54:32:39, Objective: Find & Rescue. Standing orders remain. Engage if necessary. No New Messages._

A tall, cloaked man looked up from a glowing gadget in his hand to the scene unfolding in front of him and sighed. He had watched the entire battle from his hiding spot in the tree, and was impressed by the mercenaries. They reminded him of his friends and their little band from not too long ago (to him, at least), and as he watched, the large man in the black armor drew his spear back to deliver the finishing blow. Glancing once more at the glowing object, he sighed again. There was more than enough time to deal with this and still find his objective. It was troublesome, especially in this world that didn't have the same technology as where he came from, but he might be able to get some information of out this. Drawing out a strange looking object from his belt– the place where he held it was curved, and had a small metal part sticking out the bottom, and the rest were three pipe-like objects pointing outwards. Aiming the curious contraption at the black man, he fired.

* * *

_****_

**_BANG_**

Ike's eyes flew open, and looked around. He saw that the two girls were doing the same, and in fact, they were all wondering at the same time, _What was that?!_ And in the same moment, they all looked towards the Daein solder, and what they saw would be imbedded in their memories forever.

The man was just standing there. Just…standing, with his lance just inches away from Ike's chest. He wasn't moving, not one bit. Soundlessly, he toppled over, just like how a statue would if you pushed hard enough. With a resonating _thud_, the man's body hit the ground, and there was silence.

Just silence.

And that silence was soon broken by a light _tap_ of someone behind them. Spinning around, Ike grabbed his sword out of Mia's hands and stumbled into a defensive position. Once again, the sight he beheld would become a tenacious memory.

A tall, _very_ tall man stood, with long black hair down around his shoulders. Upon his head he wore a red headband, to match his glowing blood-red eyes. A red cloak with several buckles rested upon his shoulders, covering black clothes. A belt with several objects strapped to it adorned his waist. He wore a strange golden gauntlet/claw thing on his left hand, and he had matching shoes. Oh, they were strange shoes, to match the strange person, as they were sharp and pointed. What caught his interest the most was the strange cylindrical object with a curved…hilt, if you could call it one...wait, make that three cylindrical objects on a single hilt. The weapon didn't seem to have a blade, nor was it a bow or magical device. With a quiet _humph_, he bent his knees and jumped.

By jump, we mean JUMP. He literally flew from where he stood to the top of the fort. He pointed his strange weapon at a couple of the Daeins and pulled the protruding metal object from the hilt.

_**BANG BANG**_

The two Daeins unlucky enough to have the object pointed towards them were thrown backwards as something unseen hit them. To Ike and Mia's trained eyes, they saw three small objects fly from the three cylinders from the weapon each time the mysterious man pulled the metal thing, which was followed by a _bang_. The combination of strange man, weapon, and abilities succeeded in driving the Daeins away. Looking around, the man seemed satisfied that the enemy was gone. Reaching into his cloak, he pulled out a handful of blue bottles –elixirs, the trio supposed – and jumped down to where Ike, Mist, and Mia were. Ike and Mia got into defensive and offensive stances respectively and Mist hid behind Ike. The mysterious man, seeing their reaction, chucked, and said in a deep baritone voice, "I'm not your enemy. Take these." Then he seemed to realize that he still had his weapon out. Slowly, he put the thing back into its sheath and raised his hands. After carefully placing the elixirs on the ground, he slowly, and carefully said, "They're elixirs. They aren't poisoned. Do not worry. I just want some information." Hearing this, Ike lowered his guard, and motioned for Mia to do so as well, though the two did not sheathe their weapons.

Ike made his move before the other could say anything more. "Stop. First, who are you?"

The man cocked his head to one side before replying, "You should introduce yourself first, no?"

Ike flinched, and Mia giggled slightly, relieved that this person did not appear to be an enemy. She sheathed her sword, and soon Ike did as well. "My name is Ike, commander of the Greil Mercenaries. This…" He patted Mia on the head. "…is Mia, one of my coworkers. And the short one is Mist, my little sister." He received a swift kick to the shin as a reward.

"I see." The man in red dropped his hands to his sides and paced back and forth. "However, I am afraid I cannot give you my name at this point and time, as I am currently on a mission, just like you." _Huh? How did he-_

"I watched the whole battle, and I listened to the whole battle. The men in black said you had a princess here, but she's already safe, is she not?" The man asked. "No, I am not one of those…Daeins, as they called themselves. It is…my job to notice these things." He added, when Ike grasped the hilt of his weapon again. "I'll get straight to the point.

"Have you seen a tall, blond man, with a strange looking machine that he rides that goes very fast and makes a loud sound? He wields six swords, two at once, one in each hand, or one oversized one with both hands. And his hair is spiky. The man should be wearing all black clothes, and his vest should have a wolf's head emblazoned on his left shoulder."

Ike looked at Mia, who in turn looked at Mist, who looked at her brother. "No, I'm sorry, but I believe none of us have seen him. One of my coworkers would certainly have told me if they saw such an…unusual sight. After all, what you describe is not an everyday occurrence."

The mysterious man sighed, and flipped out the strange object he had looked at earlier. When he opened the thing, the trio he had been talking to gawked. It glowed!! It freaking glowed!! The man tapped some things on the object, and then held it up to his ear. Unexpectedly, he started talking.

"Hello. This is…no, I have not found him." The man looked at Ike, put a finger to his lips to ask for silence, and looked away again when he resumed talking. "I was caught up in a conflict. No, nothing major. I asked around if they saw him…and negative results……..I'm sorry. I'll keep looking. Bye." With that he closed the thing and walked away. Stopping, he turned around and said one last thing. "Take this." He tossed a cylinder to Ike, who caught it warily and examined it. It had two strings on the bottom, color coded for something. "If you ever find the man I told you about, pull the white string. If you need military assistance, pull the red one. The ones with pink bands are my…associates. They will help you." And with that, he jumped off and was gone.

Ike, Mia, and Mist stood there for a while. Finally, Mia broke the silence when she smiled at the siblings and said, "Hell, I'd do anything to jump like that guy!" Breaking the tension, the three laughed, and laughed harder when the rest of the mercenaries charged outside, weapons at the ready, only to find the battle already over, along with three laughing children(2) and a bunch of elixirs. In fact, Mia laughed so hard that she teetered over, bumped into Ike, knocked them both into a wall, and promptly blacked out on his shoulder.

* * *

---The Next Day---

Mia's POV

Mia woke up to the sound of laughter and eating. Sitting up, she found herself in her room in the fort. She immediately began wondering how she had gotten there, and the memories of yesterday's battle hit her all at once. Squirming on the bed, Mia managed to calm herself down before she could injure herself. _Ahh…the injuries were bad, but recoverable…_ she thought. _But…agh! I acted so…dear goddess, __**embarrassing**__ in front of Ike!! Ohh…and I think he's my arch rival…not to mention the man I plan on following for the…oh, gosh darn!_ Mia buried her face in embarrassment. Sure, Ike was the best (and nicest) commander she had ever met, but just thinking of being included in the family structure of the mercenary company was uneasy for her. After all, she could barely remember her mother, and had never met her father. Heck, she didn't even know if she had siblings or not! "Whatever." With that one word said, Mia hopped out of bed and checked herself for injuries.

They were all gone.

Without a trace.

There were no scars, so soreness, no remaining pain, _nothing_.

What the heck?!

She was going to ask Ike about this. Now.  
Opening the door to her room, she made her way down to the appointed mess hall just as Soren exited. She sidled around him and entered the hall. Finding that Ike was eating, she grabbed her food with a smile from Oscar and literally skipped down to where Ike was sitting and promptly sat down next to him, unnoticed until she nearly yelled into his ear, "Boss! Morning!"

Ike choked on his food, and was coughing for a good minute before recovering. "Good morning. Are you ready to go?"

Mia smiled and stretched before digging into her breakfast. "All set! It doesn't matter how late I go to sleep, I'm always awake before the sun rises! I can leave whenever!"

"…it's around 7 o'clock, Mia." The said girl's smile faltered a little, and then the teen did a face-palm. _Doh._ "...Um, I'm sorry. You know, for everything that's happened. It's all so sudden."

Mia froze. She hadn't been expecting that. "Oh, it's…nothing. But it's been rough on you, hasn't it?"

"I could say the same to you. It can't have been easy joining a band of wanted mercenaries and fighting every day." Seeing Mia shrug this off, Ike decided to take a bit of revenge from the Trainer sword incident. "And it must have been pretty hard trying to keep your weight constant…you were pretty heavy, a couple days ago." Mia took a while to process this in, and when she did her face turned bright red. Her hair hiding her eyes (but not her blush), she took her sheathed sword and smacked her Boss over the head with it.

"Oh, it's not so bad...not the weight thing." Mia replied, facing away from Ike, pouting.

Ike rubbed his head, then stood up, walked in front of Mia, and looked her in the eyes. "You were forced to join us by the whims of fate, not by choice. I know my father said you had a debt to repay, but he's not here anymore. If you want to leave, I won't stop you."

…_wow. Hard question._ Mia thought. _I can't really…tell him that he's my rival…but I do wanna tell him that I'll follow him… _"Um... Er... Aaaaah!"

"Aaah! What!?" Mia's random outburst apparently scared the living daylights out of Ike, and Boyd, who had walked in on the conversation, fell over laughing, and promptly received a chair to the face.

Mia, deciding to ignore the little Boyd incident, tried to put her thoughts into words. "Oooh! Times... Times like this... I never have any idea of what I'm supposed to say. None! Uh, darn! Hold on." _Umm…well, here goes nothing! _"Yesterday...in the middle of that giant mess, you didn't give up, Boss. And I knew. That is how a true man lives! So now I have to follow you. You see?"

Ike pondered this for a second, and then hesitantly responded. "I...think so."

Mia let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "That's my story, Boss. So do me a favor and don't tell me to get lost. I'm good to have around. You'll see!" With that she jumped up and saluted, only to hit herself in the eye.

Ike chucked at the sight before saying, "I have seen. And if that's how you feel, I guess I understand. I'm counting on you. Don't let me down, since you're watching my back from now on."

Mia nearly jumped for joy when she heard that. _Promoted to sidekick of the Ike! Wow…that's gotta be a new verb or something…Ike…_ "Never! I wouldn't know how! And same goes to you, Boss!" And with that, Mia grabbed her now empty plate, gave it to Oscar, and all but skipped out of the hall. _Oh. Right._ Grabbing the door frame, the myrmidon pulled herself back into the room. "By the way, how did my wounds just…disappear?"

Ike stopped putting his plate away, and turned around. He motioned for Mia to come closer, and she complied. Whispering in her ear, he said, 'I really don't know. Let's keep that mysterious man between you, me, and Mist, okay?' Mia nodded. 'It was those elixirs…Rhys had healed everyone else up via a Heal staff, so me and you were the only ones to use those elixirs. I have no idea what was in them, but we're keeping them.'

Mia whispered back, 'What about that tube thing he tossed you? It looks too small to hold arrows or anything like that.'

'Hmm. Not sure. Oh well, that tall strange guy helped us, and that's that.'

'Ehh…oh well. You're the Boss. But, boy, was he huge…'

"THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID! HAHAHA!!" _Oh god._ Boyd had just woken up and had heard the last comment somehow. Luckily, he was silenced as another chair made its way into his face, and this time it wasn't Ike that had thrown it. Looking around to see who had beaten him to bashing Boyd, he found Mia with a wide grin on her face.

"Hey, what do you know? That _is_ pretty fun." Mia gave Ike a salute before dusting her hands off and stepping over Boyd's prone form. Again.

"Where'd you learn that from?" Ike questioned, with an eye brow raised.

Mia stopped in her tracks, and turned around with a sly grin on her face. "From you. That reminds me, you wanna be sparring partners? We could learn from each other."

Ike responded by motioning for Mia to stay put, jogging off, and returned with his Trainer practice swords. Passing one to his sparring mate, he led the way outside. "I hope Lethe and Mordecai won't mind us being a little late, then."

"Who?"

Ike stopped and turned around. "They're the laguz sent by the Gallian king who arrived just after you passed out." Mia mouthed an _Ohh_, and Ike resumed walking.

Mia quickly followed him. "You better not hold back. I've gotten better; this time I'll beat you, Boss!" With that, she stuck her tongue at Ike and rushed outside ahead of him. Sighing, her Boss followed suit.

Now outside, the two got into their dueling stances. "Not if I can help it. You're not the only one." And with that, the duo clashed in an epic battle of blades, with one glad to have a new friend and the other euphoric that fate had listened to her wish and answered.

* * *

1) I'm assuming the area where the mercenaries start off is the central courtyard.

2) People who are 15 and 16 _are_ children…right?

There we go. The delay results from the website's failure to deal with the login issue last week quickly enough (or was it the week before? I forget...), Frog-Lizard having academic issues - not as in having bad grades, just a bust week, and my own tons of projects and experiments.

Once again, a pairing to the person who guesses the cameo character =P, though it is kinda obvious, since I took quite a while describing him (about 20 minutes, 5 of which was research into his descriptions…ha ha), and yet another pairing to the one who gets the person he's looking for (yes, incentives for you all to **review**). _**Two **_one-shot suggestions for the brief stay in the Gallian capital (consisting of 3 short one-shots, followed by the story resuming, requests must be feasible) to the one who gets who the cameo is talking to via his object.

Mia's OOC-ness during the battle is due to the fact that it was a loosing battle, one which barely allowed any time for her quirky and happy attitude towards life. The next few battles, where the Mercenaries and company are on the **offensive**, will have Mia back in character and getting happier, and also her past will start to be revealed soon. R&R!

Geez…13 pages on Microsoft Word…NOT DOUBLE SPACED…more than 7,000 words for the story (which excludes the A/N's)…took a helluva long time to write half of the darn thing (6 hours?), plus maybe 1 hour of editing, as of 5:06 PM, JST.

**Don't forget to check out me and Solstone's (though the moderator request doesn't seem to work…) new IkexMia community and forum!! Write more IkexMia fics if you like them!!**


	5. Chapter 4: Laguz, Pirates, Daeins, Girls

First off, I am SO sorry about the huge wait! First, a chain of…3 or so projects had me chained down, followed by a week and a half of being sick, track season, and an obsession with Phantasy Star Universe…level 60 female Newman Force finally, courtesy of my sister XD. Even though, I still use a Sava-Zashi linked with Buten Shuren-zan with a Betatore + Frozen Hit most of the time. Weird, yeah, but I do have a Uransara linked with Dambarta and Rafoie and a whole bunch of Tomoirods + 1 Granarods in my inventory, along with 3 different element Jitseens linked with Gravity Strike and a Hikauri with the fire bullet art...yeah...I'm rambling aren't I...

Before I continue to rant, this chapter will take up Chapter 9: Gallia, and will end with a sort of Gaiden chapter. Oh, and this chapter will have a rather…light tone to it. No hopelessness and despair like last chapter, with everyone almost dying or injured at some point. Heck, the darn level's got a beach! Waves! Mud balls flying (minor spoiler)! How can you _ever_ make chapters with beaches in them angsty?

Oh, and when I say 'sparring partners' or something of the like, I'm referring to Ike and Mia.

I know that there aren't 20 or so pirates on this chapter, but it seems an appropriate number for a pirate ship to hold. There's actually more, because normally you'd leave some behind to tend the ship.

I'm basing this chapter on what would happen in real life – you wouldn't leave someone out of the battle just because there is a rule dictated by the game disc that you normally cannot bring more than 13 units onto the field at a time. All the mercenaries are deployed for battle here.

I don't own anything besides anything that doesn't belong to Intelligent Systems or whatever they're called and Square Enix *spoiler*. What I do own (sorta) are extra chapters I made and any OC's that may appear that aren't cameo appearances.

* * *

Chapter 4

Pirates

"Heey!! Broooother!! Let's take a break here!" A certain blue-haired mercenary turned around to face the source of the call. Upon looking back, he found his brunette younger sister jumping up and down, waving her arms above her head. Sighing, Ike grabbed the attention of the mercenaries' guides, Lethe and Mordecai.

The two were complete opposites, or so Ike thought. Mordecai was serene, surprisingly even more than Rhys.. He seemed to dislike fighting and tried to avoid conflicts, though his massive bulk made it seem unlikely that the huge warrior would be like that, but his peaceful and content facial expression more than made up for it. Even the handicap of being with the group for a very short period of time had not stopped him from calming Mist down when Ike once again carried an unconscious Mia back to their temporary base last night. Lethe was almost everything Mordecai was not, personality wise. She always seemed to be picking a fight, was rude, short, and was rather slim for someone who used their body to fight.

When Ike had called out for the two to stop, Mordecai stopped immediately, knowing the reason and attempting to get his superior's attention. On the other hand, Lethe let out a loud _humph_ and continued walking at her normal pace – which was quite fast, due to her being a laguz.

This time it was Mordecai's turn to sigh. He faced Ike, rubbing the back of his head apologetically. "Mordecai is sorry. Mordecai will talk to Lethe. Ike would best get his companions to hurry up a little bit." And with that, the laguz warrior scurried off after his captain and tried to reason with her.

Ike jogged back to his sister to see the cause of the delay. "Mist, what's wrong?" he asked. Mist merely face-palmed and pointed to Boyd. Upon sight, Ike knew what had happened, as it had happened before. Boyd had tripped over seemingly nothing and knocked himself unconscious on a rock. Currently he was slung over Oscar's horse like a rag, and with the extra weight, the horse had to travel slower and needed more breaks. In addition, the newest member of the group, Ilyana, was also weighing them down, but at least Mia was helping her out. The myrmidon had taken a liking to the sickly girl quite quickly, and they were getting along. Ike was glad that she finally had someone new to talk to; he himself wasn't exactly the most interesting person to talk to. Shaking his current train of thought out of his head, Ike swung around and jogged back to where Mordecai had somehow managed to get Lethe to stop. How he managed to do it, Ike would never know. Gosh, this day was filled with mysteries, from Boyd's self-KO, to Titania's speech about him having been here in Gallia, and now Mordecai's intense diplomatic skills.

Upon Ike's arrival, Mordecai asked, "Do you tire? Should we rest here?"

Ike hesitated, and took a look back at the mercenaries. Ilyana seemed to be better off now, no longer needing to use Mia as a human crutch, and Boyd was back on his feet. "No, I think we're all right now."

Mordecai smiled in reply. "Good."

Lethe, with her narrow view of the world, decided to puff up her ego a little more, or so it seemed to Ike. "Beorc are such a weak species. A distance like this is nothing. Any laguz worth his claws could cross it in a single bound."

Mordecai whipped around and nearly shouted, "Lethe!"

Lethe crossed her arms and looked away arrogantly. "Hmph! It is the truth!"

By this time, Ike was lost. He didn't exactly understand the recriminations between the two laguz. "If you persist in this way, you will shame the king. You sound like a fool." Ouch. Score one for Mordecai!

Lethe was now genuinely pissed off. "Hsss! You are my subordinate! Never speak to me in such a way!"

Mordecai sighed and his face met his palm on the way down. "What's wrong is wrong. You are a fierce warrior, Lethe, but when it comes to the beorc, you are far too stubborn."

The last comment made Lethe's anger flare up dangerously. "What did you say?!"

Ike decided that this was enough. They had enough trouble evading Daein, let alone have two laguz having a verbal war where the whole world could hear them. "Come on now, both of you... Let's calm down."

Instead of the harsh reprimand he expected from Lethe, the warrior turned her killer gaze from her subordinate to an old building off in the distance. "...Mordecai?"

Mordecai was also peering in the same direction. _What the heck?_ " ...Wait..." He muttered.

Again, Ike had no idea what was going on. "What is it?"

Mordecai was rooted to the spot while Lethe darted off to investigate whatever had grabbed their attention. "That smell on the wind... It's iron. It is the smell of weapons. The smell of beorc. Heavily armored. Well armed."

Ike took a second to process this, and the asked for verification, "Are you sure? This far into Gallia?"

In the distance, Lethe could be seen waving a tree branch above her head; apparently Mordecai got the message. Turning to Ike, he said, "Yes. Lethe has seen them. Get your companions." Nodding, Ike dashed off, grabbing Soren, Titania, while Mist and Mia tagged along behind.

* * *

---Fort Tatana---

Nearby, at the old abandoned Fort Tatana, a soldier encased in black armor peered through a scope at the mercenaries at the foot of the mountain. He shouted out, "General Kotaff! The Crimean mercenaries have entered our area of operations!"

The halberdier picked up his lance shook off some dust that had gathered on it, and unstrapped the round shield on his waist. Chuckling, he mentally laughed at the opposing mercenaries. _What idiots, braving the Daein kingdom…_ "Ha! They're trapped! Call every last man. Ready for battle! We stop the enemy here!" With that, he donned his helmet, adorned with the colors of a Daein general, and took his own position. Today, he would become a hero to Daein. And oh, how he relished every second of it.

* * *

---Shoreline, about 1 km from Fort Tatana---

Mia's POV

Utilizing his own scope, Soren peered at the forces gathering outside of the beaten-up old fort. "Black armor...They're Daein men, all right."

Ike gave a start. "You're saying that some of the invasion force is still around?" Mia almost snorted. _Always the one to state the obvious…_

Lethe's knuckles were white as she clenched her fists. "Daein worms... They strut about the Gallian forests as though they own them. I won't stand for it!"

"Grrr...The castle to the south. Many beorc are inside. They carry iron weapons. I smell them." Mordecai added.

Ike _once again _decided to state the obvious. "Not good..."

Mia couldn't take it anymore. "Boss, would you _please_ say something we didn't already know?" With that she received a tree branch, complete with leaves still attached to the face.

Deciding to deal with Mia's now killer mood later, Ike decided to begin battle preparations before the feisty myrmidon could take her revenge. "Titania! Gather everyone together!"

Titania, understanding the situation, immediately complied. "Ha! Understood!" With that, she vaulted onto her horse and rode off.

Lethe looked at Ike expectantly. "What now?"

Ike cocked his head to one side. "What do you mean?"

Lethe scoffed and once again turned away before replying. "If you hope to crush the worms, you'd do well to capture the ruins in the south. Since you probably want to flee, there is an escape route..."

Mia thought it was high-time to back up her Boss. Simultaneously, the duo interrupted, "We're going to fight."

"Hss! I was not speaking to you, you-"

"Enough. No more arguing." Ike's ultimatum put an end to whatever Lethe was going to say. "There are times when running has its advantages, but I don't think we'll lose here." Mia merely crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and nodded.

Lethe quizzically looked back and forth between the two beorc. "...I see."

Mordecai didn't seem to understand what was going on between Ike and Mia either; with Ike waiting for an answer and Mia looking like she had fallen asleep while standing. Not knowing what else to say, the warrior said, "I will also fight."

Ike seemed somewhat relieved by Mordecai's comment. "Good. We could use the help."

Titania arrived just as Ike finished his sentence with the merchant convoy and the rest of the mercenaries running (or riding, in Oscar's case) in order to catch up to her. "Ike! Everyone's here!"

Unsheathing his sword, the said swordsman took a breath and shouted, "All right, let's go! Muston, Jorge, I want you two to take Mist and Rolf and retreat to the rear."

Muston took a hold of Mist's arm and guided her to the back of the convoy. "Of course."

Jorge did likewise with Rolf, despite protests from the boy. "We're counting on you. Be careful!"

Turning around, Ike twirled his sword around once in a showy manner and raised it high into the air. "Everyone who can fight, grab a weapon! Greil Mercenaries... Move out!"

And immediately, the same branch that he used to silence Mia flew out from stage left and into his open mouth. Coughing, Ike spat out a couple of leaves, took the time to whack Mia over the head with his scabbard, and stalked off the scene, leaving a dumbfounded mercenary company and an even more pissed female myrmidon. However, this little scene was quickly forgotten as Mist and Rolf suddenly ran to the front of the group.

Mist shouted, "Ike!"

Ike whirled around, completely dumbfounded. "What the-Mist! You and Rolf clear out of here! Stay back, no matter what!"

Mist cut straight to the point. "No, Ike! We're going to fight with you-- both of us."

"What? No. That's not going to happen. Be serious, Mist... The two of you can't even wield weapons."

Mist held up a staff adorned with a ruby gem. "I've got this!"

"A heal staff?" _No duh, Boss!!_

"Yeah! I made Rhys teach me how to use it. I can heal injuries! I mean, just little ones, but still..."

"Little ones? No."

"Mist, are you crazy?"

Ike and Mia looked at each other, glared, then the myrmidon _humph_ed and turned her head away. Ike merely felt a sweat drop run down the side of his face.

"There's no way I'm letting you on this battlefield..." Ike concluded. "…Huh?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Mia noticed Boyd hollering at his younger brother. "Rolf!! Stop being such a brat, you little twerp!!" _In the name of Ashera…please, no more…_

Rolf seemed to have picked up his older brother's stubbornness. "I'm going to fight, too! I'm good with a bow!"

Boyd almost laughed. "Really? That's news to me. Is that the best lie you could come up with?"

"It's no lie!" Rolf seemed close to tears. The sparring duo glanced at each other, and Ike motioned for Mia to stay put. This was an argument between siblings; they had no place in it.

Mist arrived to reinforce the younger. "That's right! He's not lying."

Boyd _did_ laugh this time. "Hah! Of course he is! Not!"

Ike's expression made Mia want to both laugh or copy him. "What are you talking about, Mist?"

Mist addressed the whole audience. "Rolf's always practicing with his bow. And he's really good! Aren't you?!"

Rolf sort of stood there before replying. "Uh…I sure am!"

Ike dropped the bomb on the two kid's morale. "And when did you learn to use a bow?"

Rolf's arrogant expression fell in an instant. "Well, let's see…Um...I guess I just...sorta...picked it up naturally?"

"…he's _so_ bad at lying…" Mia whispered to Ike, who nodded in agreement.

Boyd was on the verge of picking up Rolf, dressing him in a skirt, and throwing him at the Daeins. "Stop lying, you booger-eating brat! You can't just pick up a weapon and start firing away! Someone has to teach you the basics!"

Rolf's arrogance came back. "Well, maybe I'm just a prodigy, 'cause I learned it all myself!" At this, the sparring partners simultaneously thought, _Oh…fail…_

Boyd, in layman's terms, was very, _very_ pissed. "You little..."

Mist cut in before the fighter could say anything nasty and not appropriate for a fan fiction of this rating. "You don't know anything, Boyd!"

"That's right!" With the tag-team of both Rolf and Mist, Boyd was starting to get really mad.

"This is ridiculous!" Boyd turned to the eldest brother of the three. "Oi! Oscar!" No reply. "OSCAR! OPEN YOUR EYES FOR ONCE, STOP SMILING, AND HELP ME OUT!!"

Titania nudged her horse over to Oscar and inspected him for a moment. "He's asleep." She concluded. _Holy heck!_

Ike rolled his eyes. They had wasted enough time bickering. "Enough. You two go back. Now."

Mist _still_ refused to give in. "No! We don't want to! All Rolf and I do is sit and wait and worry about all of you. We're tired of waiting! We want to fight by your side!"

That statement had a profound effect on the entire mercenary company. Even Ilyana stopped her complaining about how hungry she was for a minute. "Is that so?"

Boyd sighed. "How about it, Rolf? Is that how you feel, too?"

Rolf's mood immediately changed. "Uh-huh. No doubt, we'd rather be with you."

"Sigh..." Boyd, with eyes unmoving from Rolf, addressed Ike. "What now, Commander?"

Ike consulted with Titania and Soren, with some input from Mia. Once a conclusion had been made, he faced the whole mercenary company and declared, "We take them with us. We're too pressed for time to sit around here bickering. And at least if they're nearby, they'll be easier to protect."

Mist's face lit up. "Are you serious?!"

Rolf was literally jumping for joy. "Yes! You won't regret this, Ike! I promise!" And as he reached for an arrow from the quiver on his back, he accidentally loosened the strap holding it in place and all the arrows came spilling onto the ground.

Boyd face-palmed: "I hope not."

Whispering to Ike, Mia said, 'Maybe we really should've just put a skirt on him and thrown him…' Her Boss choked back a laugh, and began giving orders.

"Alright, listen up! The ones going straight down the middle will be me, Oscar, Titania, Rhys, Mordecai, and Lethe!" Ignoring the hiss from the last mentioned warrior, he continued on. "Boyd, take Mia, Ilyana, Soren, Rolf, and Mist and take care of those guys on the beach! And alert those houses, I think I can see a pirate approaching. Go!" With orders given, the majority of the two groups ran off to do their duty. However, Mia held Ike back and began interrogating him.

"I thought you told me to watch your back!" Mia was in a bad mood…again. "What do you call this?!"

Ike sighed for the umpteenth time, sheathed his weapon, and put his hands on Mia's shoulders. Looking straight into her eyes, he tried to reason with her. "Mia, I need you to head the beach assault along with Boyd. Take a look out there…an enemy myrmidon, that other fighter, that man with the axe swimming onto shore…the mages…Boyd can't take them all by himself. By doing this, you're covering my group's flank, and that's a tremendous help. So go." With that, Ike turned and left without another word.

Unable to disobey a direct order from her boss and with nothing else to base her argument off of, Mia reluctantly turned around and joined Boyd in a sprint towards the beachhead, but not before turning around and taking one last look at the rapidly shrinking figure of Ike before running off and engaging in combat with an enemy thunder mage.

* * *

Ike's POV

Ike had serious doubts about the so-called tremendously powerful military force known as the Daein army. From what he saw on the battlefield right now, they had already taken down half of the Daein occupation forces units, and were on the verge of attacking the general's handpicked guards._ So much for tremendously powerful…_ thought Ike, _even group of about 15 or so, can take twice our numbers …_ Looking around, he saw Oscar run down another enemy archer, Titania cleave a fighter's head in half, Mordecai and Lethe mop the floor with the knights, and Rhys stand on the side sort of doing nothing. Ike scratched his head in both worry and amusement. Did this mean their best units were on the beach? If so, he'd have some explaining to do with Mia after the skirmish. If not, she'd brag about how many opponents she took out. Risking a peek at the beach whilst engaging a soldier in one-on-one combat, he saw a pirate ship in the distance, with a bunch of them swimming to shore. Dispatching the persistent soldier quickly, he made a quick analysis of the unexpected interference of pirates and deduced that Soren would somehow solve the problem. Once that was out of the way, he then turned his attention to the rapidly approaching Pegasus in the sky.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mia wasn't doing as well as Ike had expected. She kept tripping in the sand, and as a result, lost her hair band somewhere. With her hair flying around everywhere as she performed her quick movements, she kept having to brush hair out of her eyes in combat just to see where the enemy was. Despite all this, she had managed to take down two fighters, an enemy myrmidon, and a pirate. Running through an annoying archer, Mia pushed her purple locks out of her line of sight for the umpteenth time and saw something bad. "Uh…Soren! Pirates!"

Soren looked up from rummaging through a dead mage's thunder tome, and frowned. "Take Ilyana and dispatch them quickly. You two are more than enough for that trash. Boyd, Rolf, Mist, over here." And with that he pocketed the tome he had been looking through and ran off through a passage of trees with the three said mercenaries, leaving Mia with Ilyana. Not that she complained, but…

"Ooh…oh goddess, my stomach…" Ilyana's constant hunger pangs were just…oh, so very weird. Mia sighed and pulled out some of her own rations from her handy little waist bag, and handed them over to Ilyana. "Oh! Food! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" With that, the mage glomped a rather nervous Mia and proceeded to down the food at a rate Mia had never seen before. Once the food was gone (which didn't take very long), Mia smiled and jogged off towards the wooden houses nearby. Thankfully, Ilyana followed of her own accord, and did not need any more feeding…for the moment.

"Warn the person in the other house! I'll take this one!" Mia called to Ilyana, who nodded and ran off to the further shack. The two would have to hurry, Mia could hear the strange laughter and yells of the pirates grow louder and closer. Without bothering to knock, Mia kicked the door open and saw a laguz woman screech like no other, hit the floor, and begin twitching awkwardly. A sweat drop ran down the side of the myrmidon's face.

"Eeeek! Hu-hu-humans! Yaaaaah!"

"…eh?"

"Urk! Urk! Ahhh... Oh, come on! You are so rude! If you can't tell, I'm playing dead. So go away! Huh? Why? Because my mother told me, "If you ever meet a beorc, play dead, and it will leave you be." It's not true, is it? Hsss! I knew it wasn't true! I knew it! Well then, take this, and get out of here! Quickly! I HATE humans! I don't want to talk to you! Hsss! SHOO!!" The laguz woman threw a staff with an ornate emerald upon its shaft. Mia deftly caught it with one hand and began to dismantle the laguz's explanations and actions.

"Well, you know, generally, dead people don't make funny noises, or try to explain that they're dead, or give them their life story. Also, I _saw_ you sort of…flop…on the floor after screaming bloody murder-"

The laguz's face went bright red, and shot back, "Hsss! You don't tell me what's wrong with me, human! You want me to scream bloody murder, huh?!"

Mia bit her lip in frustration, shook her head, and turned to leave.

"Ooh, ignoring me now?! I'll scream for you, human! BLOODY MURDER!! BLOODY MURDER!! You like it like that?!"

_This woman is a complete nutcase!_ Mia thought as the dashed from the wooden house/hut while clasping her hands over her ears.

* * *

---500 meters from the coastline---

Nearby, the leader of the pirates, Nedata, overheard the commotion. "Yar ho ho! What in the pits of your beard is that I hear, matey?" He crudely asked his partner with the goatee.

"Arr! Me hears something about bloody murder, ye see!"

"Bloody murder?"

"Aye."

Nedata stopped swimming for a second and pondered this new dilemma. "Thar person must be bloody stupid to scream when us scallywags are around! Arr!!"

With that a chorus of "Arr, matey!" rang from the ocean, and the pirates swam with renewed vigor towards the general area where the screaming had come from.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ike had just finished talking to the now-former Begnion pegasus knight, Marcia. He was still wondering what had possessed her to leave the Begnion Holy Guard just like that. But then again, Mia stuck with the mercenaries in a similar fashion, so he had no complaints. Plus, the ragged cheer he had heard from the shore was most definitely _not_ Mia's, and that concerned Ike. The myrmidon may be overly peppy (sometimes too much so), always trying to get him in a duel, and other quirks, but she was strong. And fast. Very fast…but not invincible. Ike had left the enemy general to Boyd, Oscar, and Soren, and he presently was on Marcia's pegasus soaring towards the beach. He sorely wished that he had gone with Titania or Oscar, as Marcia just wouldn't be quiet. "Divide and conquer, hmm? That's _such_ a good strategy for this terrain. Who taught you strategy, handsome?"

Ike nearly fell off the flying horse. "I'm not the strategist. Soren is. I just relay his instructions."

Marcia whistled, and pulled the pegasus into a wide curve above the forest surrounding the fort. "You didn't come up with that? I'm surprised that little guy came up with that…though he does look smart."

"He's the most intelligent guy I've ever met. His plans sound crazy, but they always work. I trust him."

The pegasus had now cleared the trees and dipped close to the sand. "Ooh…that's so cool! But we won't really need his plans, not with both of us here, handsome! You're strong, and with me from the skies…"

Ike sighed. The battlefield was not a place to flirt, but he had to keep good relations with his employees. "Well, we should land, and I do look forward to your future performance." With that, even before the pegasus had fully come to a stop, he leapt off the winged horse, rolled when he hit the ground, and took off running to where he saw thunderbolts raining from the sky.

* * *

---Back at the shoreline---

As Mia managed to get herself out of the house with the screaming laguz lady, she noticed a flurry of thunderbolts hitting the ground nearby. Steeling herself for combat, she sprinted towards the chaos.

Upon coming within 10 meters of the thunder, Mia's nose was assailed by a terrible stench; looking around, it was obvious the source of the smell. Holding back her gag reflex, she held her sword in her ready position and slowly advanced. She soon found Ilyana hiding among some rocks clutching a wound on her right arm.

"Hey, you alright?" Mia called out. Ilyana turned towards her voice and waved desperately at her. "Yeah, hello to you too!"

But Ilyana kept waving. "Hey! What're you…" Before she could finish her sentence, a hand covered her mouth and another bent her sword arm behind her back.

"Yar ho ho! I've found ourselves a couple of nice lasses, mates!" _Damn!_ Mia thought, _I forgot about the pirates!_ She struggled to free herself from the pirate's grasp, but the pirate already had her incapacitated. Ilyana stood on the rocks, Elthunder tome at the ready, but unsure of what to do. _Gah! Blast it all!_ Fueled by adrenaline, Mia relaxed her whole body and did a back flip while the pirate was still holding on to her. Crying out in surprise, the pirate released his hold on the myrmidon. Now with Mia out of the line of fire, Ilyana started reciting the words in the tome as fast as she could, gathered lightning energy in her hand, and blasted the pirate to Daein and back.

Meanwhile, Mia was lying down nearby in the sand. From the crazy stunt she had just pulled, he had nearly broken her arm and had sprained her ankle from a bad landing. A loud splashing sound caught her attention, and turning her head, she saw a multitude of pirates of all different colors and pitches of 'Yar ho ho' approaching. Cursing, she pushed herself off the ground, chugged a vulnerary, grabbed her sword, and prepared to meet the 20 or so pirates head-on, with Ilyana right behind her.

One of the pirates stopped about 20 meters from the two mercenaries and laughed. "Har ho ho! You two ladies beat Josh! You'll pay for that, we'll have fun with yeh ladies…heh heh…charge, mateys!" With an echoing roar, the pirates raised their axes high and ran straight at the girls.

Mia quickly analyzed the situation. The pirates weren't well educated, and they believed they had the clear advantage. Backing off quickly, the myrmidon took a quick look around. Behind her, Ilyana was charging up a spell, to her left was the rock cliff, and to the left was the shanty with the crazy laguz woman. The place was narrow, so she didn't have much room to maneuver. Retreating backwards was not an option, as Ilyana was running out of room to back up into, not to mention her maimed arm. 20 against 2 weren't good odds either, even if they did have the weapon and magic advantage. Gritting her teeth, she prepared to jump straight into the fray. As she took a step forward, she heard a squelching sound. Looking down, she found her boot cased within a small puddle of mud. Slowly, her mouth curved into a sly smile. Now, _that_ was a plan.

By now, the pirates were all but on top of the mercenaries. Smirking, Mia put her plan into motion. Backing up, she led the pirate in front into the mud puddle. Yelping in surprise, the sprinting pirate slipped, did a face-plant, and made himself a living obstacle to the rest of the incoming brigands. In the narrow space between the shanty and the cliff, there was little room to maneuver, making the clumsy pirates prime targets for Ilyana's Elthunder. With its several bolts, it was the perfect weapon against the pirates, who had little or no experience with magical combat. One of them had the smarts to get a handful of pirates to whip out hand axes and chuck them through the lightning and at the mercenaries. Luckily, the first wave of sharp objects missed by a wide margin, but Mia recognized the danger. Picking up rocks and bunches of mud, she threw them at the pirates, impeding any further effort to throw any more sharp objects at the two.

Apparently, these pirates were slightly above average than your typical pirate. After watching their comrades burn under magical bolts of plasma, the remaining 15 or so sidled around the thunder via the rock face.

Mia, having believed that the pirates were stupid enough to charge, had relaxed. If it weren't for one of Ilyana's spells blasting something right behind her, she might have lost her head. Rolling to the side, she motioned for Ilyana to focus fire in the rocks, where even more pirates were making their way to the fray. Even with the enemy reinforcements cut off, the remaining number will still be enough to completely surround the defending myrmidon. Taking a deep breath, Mia relaxed into a different stance than her usual one, flipping her sword around and holding it backwards in the style of a dagger in front of her. After a second of holding her sword there, she flipped it the opposite way and caught it near her right shoulder, with the blade pointing out at the pirate in front of her, who made a funny face. Sighing, the myrmidon swung the blade back and leapt at the pirates(1).

As the pirates moved to surround her, Mia unleashed her Vantage skill. In a flash on orange, she jumped over one of their axe swings, used the weapon to propel herself onto the man's shoulders and slice them. Before anyone else could react, she back flipped off the injured man onto the next attacker. For the next minute, the myrmidon became a floating whirlwind of steel, hopping around, continuously using Vantage, the terrain, and the enemies themselves as platforms to keep herself in the air. After bringing down roughly 3/4ths of the enemy number, Mia pushed off their leader's face and landed a rock far beyond the pirates' reach. Immediately afterwards, Ilyana let loose a powerful single bolt that killed two and badly injured the leader. Seeing that they were being outmatched by what seemed like easy prey, the remaining pirates retreated, hurling insults over their shoulders as they swam back to their boat, dragging their unconscious leader.

Seeing that the immediate danger was over, Mia allowed her body to relax. As the adrenaline wore off, the damage and strain that was made on her body during her largely aerial combat caught up to her. Her left leg cramped up, and she collapsed on the rock, gritting her teeth in pain. In addition, she was completely exhausted from going past her Vantage activation limit. Quickly, she took a spare vulnerary she had taken from one of the pirates and chugged a bit of it, but to no avail.

Soon, she heard footsteps approach from behind; footsteps to heavy to possibly be Ilyana's. Forcing her body to obey, Mia used her only good leg to leap off of the rock and land on another one nearby, sword drawn and at the ready.

"It's me." Ike stood at the base of the rocks, hands raised. Seeing that it was her Boss, the myrmidon lowered her sword and went back to clutching her leg in agony. "Hmm…you tell _me _not to go easy on you, yet you hold back? That's not exactly fair, is it?" Ike said, pulling himself onto the rock that his co-worker was on.

"S-shut up. Ow." Mia retorted through clenched teeth, throwing a nearby pebble at Ike. "Why didn't you help us out, huh?!"

Ike pondered this question for a second. "Well, I arrived when you were jumping around on top of those pirates. I didn't want to interfere, because you might've gotten distracted and gotten hurt. Also, I wanted to see your full potential."

Nodding, Mia accepted this answer. She managed to choke out, "Well – ugh - how was I, Boss?" Leaning forward to the best of her ability, she anticipated the praise she expected.

"Well, your speed was excellent," At this Mia beamed. "But it took you way too long to kill a single pirate. Also, you're injured now. Be more careful."

Hearing this, she sighed. "Ah well. For now, just tell me how to treat this."

"You can't. You have to wait for it to go away," the uninjured one said, and promptly received another pebble to the face. "I'm serious…it sucks, yes, and vulneraries don't work. Welcome to life, Mia."

Groaning, Mia lied down on the cool rock, stretching her leg out. "Where's Ilyana?" she asked. Ike merely motioned with his head. Behind him, Marcia was applying a vulnerary and bandages to Ilyana's cut arm. Wincing, she tapped Ike, and motioned towards her cramped leg. When Ike blinked and resumed staring at her, a sign that he had no idea what the heck she wanted, she kicked him with her good leg. "Help me stretch, blockhead!"

Ike blinked again, and turned his head away. "Uh…maybe I should get Marcia or Ilyana to help instead…"

Mia cocked her head to one side to the best of her abilities while lying down. "Eh? Why?"

"Yeah…well, for starters you're wearing a sort of one-piece."

"So? What, you think I wear nothing under this? You pervert!" Mia jokingly kicked Ike again, nearly knocking him off the rock. "In all seriousness, I wouldn't mind even if I did. You're not the type to peek, and either way I am wearing short shorts under this." Donning a sly grin, she pushed herself onto her elbows. "Wanna take a peek?" When Ike immediately began scurrying off the rock, she burst into laughter. "Ha ha! Boss, you're so stupid! I'm kidding!"

Sighing, Ike made his way back to Mia and propped her leg up into the air and tried not to look below her waist. "Is that good?"

Twitching, the purple haired girl managed a smile. "Well, it hurts, but it'll help, right? So it's good. Ouch…" The duo stayed like that for a while until Mia rolled over and using her hands, flipped herself back onto her feet(2). As soon as she had her balance, she nearly fell over and started having a minor case of tunnel vision. _Damn…need to be careful about Vantage next time… _Shaking her head and walking around until the tunnel vision passed, she hopped off of the rock face. "It _still_ hurts, but I can still fight! Where's Rhys? Ah! There he is!" Half jogging and half limping, she made her way towards Boyd, Rhys, and Soren, who upon hearing the lightning spells Ilyana had cast, had come for support, leaving the rest to defend the taken fort.

Chuckling, Ike walked after her. However, something about Mia's fighting had sparked something in his mind. _That style…it was very similar to that woman's…what was her name again?(3)_

"Hey, Boss!" A voice called out, breaking Ike out of his own world. Mia was sitting down in the sand, while Rhys tried to get her to stop moving around so much, having just had her leg healed. "How about we go raid that pirate ship? I bet they've got a lotta stuff!"

Soren mused over this and answered for Ike. "That is actually not a bad idea. We will need all the supplies we can get. However, how do you propose we reach that ship? None of us could safely swim that far."

"What about that girl with the flying horse?" Mia pointed at Marcia, who took the comment badly.

"Hey! The name's Marcia, and it's a _pegasus_, grapefruit head(4)!"

Mia's face visibly reddened. "Hey!! Do you know who I am?! I'm the-"

Ike sighed. _Girls…_ "Enough. Marcia, can you fly me and Mia to the pirate ship?" Ignoring the two girls' protests, he went on. "From what I saw, the pirates used axes exclusively, and that puts us two at an advantage. They didn't seem to have any experience with mages, but we can't fit more than three people on that pegasus. Marcia, you can cart whatever booty we may garner back to the shore and provide occasional aerial support."

Marcia sneered at Mia. "See, it _is _a pegasus! Even Ike says so!"

Mia's temper flared. "I don't care! And you will call him _Commander_ Ike, you new recruit! Respect your seniors, flying horse rider!"

"IT'S A FREAKING PEGASUS!!"

Soren walked over to Ike whispered in his ear, 'I believe hiring the pink haired one was a mistake.'

Ike whispered back, 'You think?' Deciding enough was enough, he cleared his throat. "STOP!" The two bickering girls froze and quickly stood at attention. "These are orders from your _commanding officer! _Now, hop on, Mia." Giving Marcia a last glare, she vaulted onto the winged horse.

"Boss. I _will_ get you back for this."

Marcia followed suit grudgingly, but without the negative comment.

A sweat drop ran down the side of Ike's face. _In the name of Ashera, how am I supposed to do this..?_

1) If you've ever seen Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, you know that little sword-flipping thing that Cloud does after piecing together a few of his swords during his fight with Bahamut SIN?

2) The swordmaster/trueblade recovery after being knocked down.

3) Will potentially an OC, debating it right now. I need a name, though…I'll be willing to discuss this topic on my IkexMia forum.

4) A terrible attempt at utilizing Marcia's odd tendency to use food as insults and Mia's hair color.

PLEASE REVIEW!! Even though I made you guys wait for like…I forget how long, I'm really, really sorry but please review! Having 34 reviews in only 4 chapters makes me feel really happy, especially with the number of hits! You know what would make me even happier? More than 2% of my readers reviewing please (34/1490=0.022...)!! Or else Mia will chase you down and kill you in your sleep!

Not really, but you get my point!

Already working on the next chapter, FYI.

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